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Citation: MFF, SEI, SEAFDEC (2018). Gender in coastal and marine resource management: A regional synthesis report. Bangkok, Thailand: MFF, 70pp
Cover photo: A woman collects fresh mussels in Trat. © 2016 Ana Grillo/MFF Thailand.
Design: Azhar Saeed, IUCN Pakistan
Available from: Mangroves for the Future (MFF) IUCN Asia Regional Office 63, Sukhumvit Soi 39 Sukhumvit Road, Wattana, Bangkok 10110, Thailand And at http://www.mangrovesforthefuture.org
Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) SEI Asia 15th Floor, Witthyakit Building, 254 Chulalongkorn University, Chulalongkorn Soi 64, Phyathai Road, Pathumwan, Bangkok 10330, Thailand And at http://www.sei.org
Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center (SEAFDEC) The Secretariat P.O. Box 1046, Kasetsart Post Office, Chatuchak, Bangkok 10903, Thailand Tel: +66 2940 6326 Fax: +66 2940 6336 E-mail: [email protected] And at http://www.seafdec.org About the authors
Mangroves for the Future (MFF) MFF is a partnership-based regional initiative which promotes investment in coastal ecosystem conservation for sustainable development. MFF focuses on the role that healthy, well-managed coastal ecosystems play in building the resilience of ecosystem-dependent coastal communities in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Maldives, Myanmar, Pakistan, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam. The initiative uses mangroves as a flagship ecosystem, but MFF is inclusive of all types of coastal ecosystems, such as coral reefs, estuaries, lagoons, sandy beaches, sea grasses and wetlands. MFF is co-chaired by IUCN and UNDP and is funded by Sida, Norad, Danida and the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Thailand.
Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) Stockholm Environment Institute is an international non-profit research and policy organization that tackles environment and development challenges. We connect science and decision-making to develop solutions for a sustainable future for all. Our approach is highly collaborative and stakeholder involvement is at the heart of our efforts to build capacity, strengthen institutions, and equip partners for the long-term. Our work spans climate, water, air, and land use issues, and integrates evidence and perspectives on governance, the economy, gender and human health. Across our eight centres in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas, we engage with policy processes, development action and business practices throughout the world.
Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center (SEAFDEC) The Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center is an autonomous intergovernmental body established in 1967. The mission of SEAFDEC considered and adopted by the Special Meeting of the SEAFDEC Council 2017 is “To promote and facilitate concerted actions among the Member Countries to ensure the sustainability of fisheries and aquaculture in Southeast Asia.” SEAFDEC comprises 11 Member Countries: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. The Center operates through a Secretariat located in Thailand and has five Technical Departments, namely the Training Department, the Marine Fisheries Research Department, the Aquaculture Department, the Marine Fishery Resources Development and Management Department and the Inland Fishery Resources Development and Management Department. Table of Contents
Foreword 3 List of Acronyms and Abbreviations 4 Executive Summary 5 Part 1. Introduction 9 Background 9 Rationale for gender analysis in fisheries and coastal resource management 11
Part 2. Research approach 12 A Three-tiered approach to critical gender analysis 12 Context 17
Part 3. Gender equality and women’s empowerment in coastal and fisheries resource management in South and Southeast Asia: A multiscale policy landscape and opportunities for mainstreaming 22 Integrated coastal management 22 Relevance of international policy context for gender 23 Regional policy landscape 25 National level 27 Gender mainstreaming efforts 29 Opportunities for gender mainstreaming in coastal and fisheries resource management 31
Part 4. Gendered lived experiences in Asian coastal communities 34 Positioning women in coastal and marine communities 35 Gendered roles and responsibilities in economic activities – beyond cultural boundaries 37
Part 5. Shifting norms, shifting power: Access and control of livelihoods in changing environments 43 Resource access and use: Beyond livelihoods to emotions 45 Participation and decision-making 46
Part 6. Conclusions and recommendations 49
Concluding reflection 54 References 56 Appendices 64
2 Foreword
The overall aim of the Regional Gender Study and synthesis was to examine gender dimensions in coastal resources and fisheries management in order to improve understanding about the state of men and women in environmental decision making and the structural challenges preventing equitable opportunities for men and women in relation to coastal and marine resources in South and Southeast Asia.
The commitment to undertake the study came from the interest of Mangroves for the Future programme to share knowledge of the gender context gained through its work with coastal communities and government policy makers across 11 countries in South and Southeast Asia since the programme began in 2006. The study and resulting synthesis report contributes to strengthening our collective understanding and commitment towards achieving gender equality as a core part of coastal and marine resource management and the sustainable development agenda.
The study evolved through a working partnership lead by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural resurces (IUCN) through the MFF programme, working in close collaboration with the South East Asian Fisheries Development Center (SEAFDEC) and Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) – Asia Centre. Together the partnership produced a gender analysis tool, completed an extensive literature review and country policy profiles, and undertook gender focused field studies in 12 countries, and along with these engaged in capacity development processes to integrate gender analysis for comprehensive understanding environmental and livelihoods issues in coastal communities. One of the primary objectives of the study was to help broaden and deepen the fundamental understanding that gender equality to environmental management and sustainable development, across all policy makers and practioners influencing change processes in relation to sustainable coastal resource management and fisheries.
The study provides a number of evidence based arguments and recommendations that help elaborate exactly why gender equality is fundamental in coastal and marine resources management; arguments that elaborate from an environmental protection point of view, from a poverty alleviation point of view, and from a social justice and economic development perspective, reiterating once again the need for gender inclusive governance and policy decision making prcesses in order to achieve longterm protection of coastal ecosystems and small scale fisheries that so many depend on.
Maeve Nightingale MFF Capacity Development Manager and IUCN Asia Regional Gender Focal Point 3 List of Acronyms and Abbreviations
ACWC ASEAN Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children ASCC ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community ASEAN Association of Southeast Asian Nations BFA Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action 1995 BOBLME Bay of Bengal Large Marine Ecosystem Project BRIDGE Building River Dialogue and Governance in the Mekong Region CBD Convention on Biological Diversity CEDAW Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women CEPF Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund CGA Critical gender analysis CGEO Chief Gender Equality Officers COBSEA Coordinating Body on the Seas of East Asia CTI Coral Triangle Initiative FAO Food and Agriculture Organization GAP Gender Action Plan GAT Gender Analysis Toolkit GDP Gross Domestic Product ILO International Labour Organization IUCN International Union for Conservation of Nature IUU European Union’s Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported regulation MDG Millennium Development Goals MFF Mangroves for the Future NACA Intergovernmental Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia Pacific NAPA National Adaptation Programmes of Action NCFAW National Committee for the Advancement of Women NRSP National Rural Support Programme SAARC South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation SACEP South Asia Co-operative Environment Programme SACRTF South Asia Coral Reef Task Force SASP South Asian Seas Programme SDG Sustainable Development Goals SEAFDEC Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center SRHR Sexual and reproductive health and rights UNCCD United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification UNESCAP United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific UNFCCC United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change 4 Executive Summary
Coastal communities in South and Southeast Asia are strongly tied to marine and coastal resources and ecosystems which are vital for their food security and livelihoods. Meanwhile, the rampant expansion of the global economy is leading to rapid changes of coastal and marine resources due to overfishing and hasty coastal development. This has severe consequences for different groups of women and men from communities at the forefront when it comes to experiencing the hardships of declining marine resources and degradation of coastlines.
Gendered experiences in fisheries and coastal resource management are often overlooked. To redress this gap, IUCN’s Mangroves for the Future (MFF) programme recognizes that the involvement, contribution and role of both men and women are important to the function and well-being of coastal communities, while gender equality is fundamental to conservation and sustainable development. Gender equity and equality are upheld as fundamental guiding principles in the FAO Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (SSF Guidelines). In the Southeast Asian region, gender perspectives have been highlighted in the ASEAN-SEAFDEC Plan of Action on Sustainable Fisheries for Food Security for the ASEAN Region Towards 2020. With the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center (SEAFDEC) and the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) Asia Center, MFF has supported the development of a Regional Gender Analysis to improve knowledge and understanding of the state of women’s and men’s engagement in environmental decision-making and to explore drivers of inequality and the constraints they pose to women in fisheries and coastal contexts. The study project covered 12 countries in South and Southeast Asia: Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam. The study comprised two phases and was guided by a three-tiered gender analysis framework combining local in-depth research and gender analysis and capacity building as illustrated below.
SECOND TIER Multiple-technique approch to data collection FIRST TIER THIRD TIER Participatory capacity building Feminist political Gender Analysis Tool ecology (FPE) (GAT) and training approach to gender analysis
Critical Gender Analysis Study Project
5 This Regional Synthesis Report is the final output of Phase 2 and synthesizes the content of three of the principal outputs completed in Phase 1, namely i) the regional literature review exploring gender patterns in coastal and fisheries resource management, ii) twelve country profiles exploring national policy landscapes in relation to fisheries and coastal resource management, and iii) twelve individual gender analyses field studies compiled from the MFF and SEAFDEC project field sites in Bangladesh (2 studies), Cambodia (2), India (2), Indonesia (1), Maldives (1), Pakistan (2), Myanmar (1) and Sri Lanka (1). The synthesis report makes use of this material to: l Provide an analytical overview of the multiscale institutional and policy landscape and opportunities for mainstreaming gender in fisheries and coastal resource management. l Undertake a critical gender analysis in the coastal and fisheries sectors in South and Southeast Asia which unpacks dynamics of power and gender relations in five domains of analysis. l Uncover opportunities for promoting gender equality and gender-responsive policies and suggest recommendations for mainstreaming gender.
Framed in a multiscale understanding of the normative landscape and socioeconomic and geopolitical dynamics at work, this study is guided by a feminist political ecology approach to highlight how the interaction between larger-scale processes with local gendered roles and responsibilities can result in a range of gender-specific impacts. The gender analysis is structured around five domains for analysis: i) laws, regulations, and institutional practices, ii) lived experiences of gender roles and responsibilities, iii) access to and control of resources, iv) participation and decision-making, and v) cultural norms, beliefs and perceptions. Patterns of power are understood as dimensions cutting across domains, contexts and scales of analysis. Findings on gender issues and equality and opportunities for promoting gender equality and responsive policies and recommendations to address current scenarios in fisheries and coastal resource management follow.
Finding 1. Countries in the region are largely falling short of adequate gender mainstreaming in their national policies for fisheries and coastal resource management and taking a piecemeal approach.
Overarching opportunities for implementing and strengthening gender mainstreaming
Opportunity 1 Mainstream inclusive and intersectional gender in policies and strategies in the process of being developed or create addendum policy and guidance notes. (responsiveness). Opportunity 2 Encourage experienced civil society organizations to share gender integration practices with local NGOs and governmental agencies (collaboration). Opportunity 3 Increase involvement and support from government agencies (e.g. Thailand Gender Equality Committee, Philippine Commission on Women). Opportunity 4 Make use of decentralized structures of coastal management and fisheries sectors. Opportunity 5 Strategically use the integrated coastal management (ICM) and transboundary approaches to mainstream gender at different scales. Opportunity 6 Capacity building of national and local coastal and fisheries resource management stakeholders. Opportunity 7 Employ FAO Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-scale Fisheries as entry points for gender mainstreaming.
6 Finding 2. Women have diverse roles and responsibilities, yet their contribution is often undervalued.
Overarching Recommendation: Increase intersectional gender awareness among communities and project implementers.
Specific recommendations: l Facilitate men’s and women’s awareness raising sessions to ensure collective understanding of and learning about the benefits and values of women’s work in different spheres of coastal and fisheries resource management. l Facilitate training in critical gender analysis with a focus on the intersectionality of gender and other axes of power. l Promote participatory identification and strategizing to address societal discriminatory norms. l Engage and collaborate with relevant institutions and organizations. l Provide gender awareness materials in simple and easy to understand local languages.
Finding 3. Women’s participation in decision-making remains negligible at all levels.
Overarching Recommendation: Improve women’s agency in decision-making power and beyond.
Specific recommendations: l Promote participatory understanding of underlying inequalities. l Awareness campaigns targeted at men that highlight the importance of joint decision-making and sharing tasks and responsibilities. l Provide training in leadership and business literacy, favourable credit policies and liberal financial support to motivate women’s entrepreneurialism in fisheries activities.
Finding 4. Old and poorly implemented laws and policies, economic processes, and lack of information deepen socially constructed gender inequalities which remain pervasive.
Overarching Recommendation: Provide gender analysis training and support for government institutions, local organizations and project implementers.
Specific recommendations: l Increase gender sensitization training for relevant institutions and ensure that it is contextualized for the specific project needs and area. l Shift away from general gender training to address critical multiscale gender research and analysis and specific ways to mainstream gender in fisheries and coastal resources projects. l Involve and collaborate with national and local institutions and organizations.
Finding 5. Social norms and gender roles are not fixed. Gender discriminatory norms can change in enabling environments.
Overarching Recommendation: Work towards women’s economic empowerment and beyond.
Specific recommendations: l Ensure women’s work, both reproductive and fisheries work in pre- and postharvest stages is always recognized and valued.
7 l Ensure implemented activities do not increase time burdens and hardship of women. l Introduce and create innovative livelihood opportunities to enable diversification. l Increase access to and provision of technical support, equipment and training in crafts and marketing.
Finding 6. Women and young girls’ self-esteem and ability to partake in community activities are undermined when experiencing physical violence.
Overarching Recommendation: Prevent violence against women as part of gender mainstreaming efforts in coastal and fisheries resource management.
Specific recommendations: l Include measures for combatting violence in a planned and integrated manner. l Increase awareness in communities and in schools as educated children can change household dynamics and prevent violence. l Child-to-parent message delivery mechanisms connected to community police. l Monitoring complemented with child-to-child support networks.
8 Community members participate in consultations with gender experts - Nijhum Dwip, Bangladesh. Q Mohammad Shahad Mahabub/IUCN Bangladesh.
Part 1. Introduction
Background
Coastal communities worldwide are strongly tied to coastal and marine resources and ecosystems which are vital for their food security and livelihoods. In Asian countries such as Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand and Sri Lanka, fish makes up at least half or more 1 of the total animal protein intake, and its regular consumption can better the nutritional status of households where dietary diversity is low and malnutrition is high (FAO, 2016). Mangrove forests, seagrass meadows and coral reefs provide important environmental services, acting as nurseries and protective environments for fish and other sea life, sequestering carbon, and protecting coastal areas from storm surges. Meanwhile, triggered by the rampant expansion of a global economy which increasingly encompasses countries, cities and local communities, marine capture fisheries and aquaculture products have become highly tradable commodities, with complex value chains spanning the globe and driving the economies of developing and developed countries alike. People have moved to coastlines attracted by the opportunities of well-connected and resource-rich settlements and their economies and by the beauty of tourist destinations.
Increased exploitation of coastal and marine resources through overfishing 2 and hasty coastal development are major concerns for long-term sustainability. Human-induced disasters and climate change are further threatening the health and survival of crucial coastal ecosystems. Coastal communities are at the forefront when it comes to experiencing the hardships and economic and social effects of depletion of marine resources and of the rapid degradation of coastlines. Industrialized fishing displaces small-scale fisheries and the growth in value and productivity of the fish trade and aquaculture do not
1. 76% in the case of Cambodia (FAO, 2017). 2. One-third of all fish stocks are overfished (FAO, 2016).
9 seem to benefit local producers. Transnational investments, resource commodification, infrastructure development and market access are changing power and gender relations further disenfranchising communities and already fragile sectors of the population, among them poorer women, ethnic communities, and lower castes (Pravalprukskul & Resurrección, 2018). Paradoxically, sustainable development initiatives (i.e. protected areas), aimed at mitigating environmental degradation but failing to pay attention to gender and social equity dimensions, are at times negatively affecting people’s livelihood needs and disempowering local communities particularly with regard to access, use and control over resources (Mariki, 2016). Forms of development intervention and environmental governance can therefore be inflected with gendered discourses and assumptions that deepen unjust life opportunities and exclusions (Elmhirst, 2015).
Numerous studies on gender issues in coastal and fisheries resource management have exposed gendered inequalities which unfold at different scales and hence set in motion differentiated, often unjust, life opportunities. Those studies have stressed gender as a critical analytical concept for understanding the social and political dimensions of natural resource management and governance as gender discourses and practices can shape both exclusions and opportunities within environmental and sustainable development processes (Elmhirst & Resurrección, 2008). Yet, within the realm of fisheries and coastal resources, gender and social equality issues are still largely sidelined, while concerns with highly technical, ecological and economic aspects remain the sector’s primary endeavour. While inclusiveness and gender mainstreaming have gained wide traction through a range of local initiatives and projects, gender has often become just a technical add-on, leaving drivers of inequality and vulnerability largely unaddressed.
To redress this gap, IUCN’s Mangroves for the Future program recognizes that the involvement, contribution, and role of both men and women are important to the functioning and well-being of coastal communities, while gender equality is fundamental to conservation and sustainable development. The MFF programme stresses how a simplistic understanding of the roles and contributions of men and women often leads to a lack of recognition of their distinct needs and interests in policies and programmes and hence fails to meet sustainable livelihood goals in ecosystem-dependent coastal communities. Hence, a recognition of significant challenges for promoting gender equality is guiding MFF’s strategic positioning of gender as a cross-cutting consideration in its programming.
Gender equity and equality are upheld as fundamental guiding principles in the FAO Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (SSF Guidelines) that calls for concerted efforts by all stakeholders to include gender equality in all small-scale fisheries development strategies. In the Southeast Asian region, a gender perspective is highlighted in the ASEAN-SEAFDEC Plan of Action on Sustainable Fisheries for Food Security for the ASEAN Region Towards 2020, which calls for “strengthened capacity of relevant stakeholders and harmonized initiatives that support fishing communities and governments, with a special focus on women and youth.” During the Special Meeting of the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center (SEAFDEC) Council in November 2017, the Council adopted a Resolution on the future of SEAFDEC, including “Vision, Mission, and Strategies Towards 2030”, specifically addressing “ cross-cutting issues, such as labour, gender and climate change, where related to international fisheries ” (Strategy 5). In addition, the SEAFDEC Council 2018 endorsed a policy brief titled Applying Human Rights-Based and Gender Equality Approaches to Small-scale Fisheries in Southeast Asia, regarding applicability, relevance and importance of human rights-based and gender equality approaches to promote secure and sustainable small-scale fisheries that support food security and poverty eradication (SEAFDEC, 2018).
10 Some of the identified challenges beyond a limited grasp of the relationship between gender issues and coastal and fisheries resource management at policy and practitioners’ level concern the institutional marginalization of gender issues within organizations, the perpetuation of the ‘gender as an add-on’ philosophy and practice rather than an integral component of programming as well as the failure to link gender with intergovernmental and other development processes, and the lack of institutional and individual capacity and tools to mainstream gender.
Together with SEAFDEC and the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) Asia Center 3, MFF supported the development of a Regional Gender Analysis to improve knowledge and understanding of the state of women’s and men’s engagement in environmental decision-making and the structural challenges preventing equal opportunities for women and men in relation to coastal and fisheries resource management in South and Southeast Asia. To avoid the risk of yet another tokenistic gender mainstreaming initiative, the MFF-SEAFDEC-SEI project embarked on a comprehensive and rigorous process of both capacity building and local in-depth research analysis framed by a multiscale understanding of the normative landscape and socioeconomic and geopolitical dynamics at work. A three-tiered approach, described in Part 2 guides the overall methodology. The final output of Phase 2 is the present Regional Synthesis Report which provides a detailed synthesize and analysis of the content of the three major outputs completed in Phase 1.
The report has three main objectives: 1. To provide an analytical overview of the multiscale institutional and policy landscape and opportunities for mainstreaming gender in fisheries and coastal resource management in South and Southeast Asia (Part 3). 2. To undertake a critical gender analysis in the coastal and fisheries sectors in South and Southeast Asia focussing on five domains for analysis: i) lived experiences of gender roles and responsibilities, ii) access to and control of resources, iii) participation and decision-making, iv) cultural norms, beliefs and perceptions, v) laws, regulations and institutional practices (Parts 4 and 5). 3. To uncover opportunities for promoting gender equality and gender responsiveness and suggest recommendations for mainstreaming gender in coastal and fisheries resource management in South and Southeast Asia (Parts 3 and 6).
To counter the prevalent discursive categorizations of women as a homogeneous group with a set of static and pre-defined household and societal roles and responsibilities, the study adopted an intersectional approach to gender and examined aspects of the multiscale structural and contingent conditions and mechanisms through which women, in all their diversity, access or are denied power to access, use and control resources in coastal settings. The study is inspired by a feminist political ecology approach to understanding dynamics of gender in the context of natural resource-based livelihoods. The analysis has the potential to advance gender integrated planning of coastal and fisheries resource management which cautions against gender simplification and conventional framings of vulnerabilities and gender-based inequalities.
3. MFF, SEAFDEC and SEI are all Sida funded programmes with shared interests for improving gender integration and mainstreaming in their respective programmes. 11 Rationale for gender analysis in fisheries and coastal resource management
The use of natural resources is shaped by who can access and manage them. Unequal relations of power, usually defined by social differences of gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic class, and age translate into inequalities among people in their access to and control over resources, and thereby influence the benefits and adverse effects that different people experience. Research reviewed for this study reveals deep gender and social inequalities in coastal and fisheries resource management (Pravalprukskul & Resurrección, 2018). Women are crucial to the fisheries sector and while studies have shown they comprise almost half of the sector’s labour force in developing countries, 4 their contributions have often gone undocumented and therefore rendered invisible to most researchers and policy makers. This is because national policies, frequently driven by production targets and concerns with overfishing, prioritize primary production of fish over other parts of the supply chain in which women are represented in much larger numbers. This lack of recognition of women’s contributions to the sector’s economy at different stages of the supply chain and to food security undervalues the economic and social benefits they provide (Lentisco & Lee, 2015). It also marginalizes women in implementing sectoral policies and increases their vulnerability, especially in small-scale capture fisheries which are already sidelined within the fishing industry (Bennett, 2005). Including women’s roles and contributions in research and practice is therefore essential to addressing inequality.
Besides reducing social inequality, a gendered approach contributes to more sustainable and economically beneficial outcomes for the sector. Understanding gender differences in human interaction with coastal and marine resources helps evaluate longer-term impacts on those resources and the environment (Bennett, 2005) and has implications for policy making and management in the fisheries sector. For example, overlooking rural women’s roles has led to substantial underestimations of fishing pressure in coastal areas (Harper, Zeller, Hauzer, Pauly & Sumaila, 2013), and of women’s economic contributions through the value chain (Harper et al., 2013). More generally, prioritizing gender equality in both policy and practice paves the way for issues of precarious and informal employment common in the fisheries field and gender segregated labour sectors to be addressed. It also directs attention towards the need to ensure women’s access to information and justice and adequate knowledge about and provision of sexual and reproductive health and rights and to initiate work aimed at reducing and redistributing unpaid domestic work in the context of depletion of marine and coastal resources and climate change.
Finally, an analysis of gender issues in coastal and fisheries resource management highlights the larger historical and contingent socioeconomic processes and environmental changes that produce and perpetuate different vulnerabilities including the expansion of global fishery markets, the intensification of resource commodification and exploitation, and the deterioration of coastal habitats due to climate change effects among others. These far-reaching and rapid changes have imposed livelihood pressures on women and men who depend on coastal and marine resources (Elmhirst & Resurrección, 2008). Arguments have been made for more context-specific and historically nuanced understandings of the relationship of specific groups of women with specific environmental resources (Sida, 2015). In focusing the gender analysis on a specific region, this report serves two purposes: i) it provides a general understanding of the benefits to the coastal and fisheries resource management of integrating gender, and ii) it communicates contextualized information applicable across the region.
4. If gleaning and aquaculture activities were taken into account, women could make up even more of the work force, making the sector a ‘female sphere’ http://www.fao-ilo.org/fileadmin/user_upload/fao_ilo/pdf/Papers/Weeratunge-final.pdf
12 A woman sets fish out to dry, Phuket, Thailand. Q Ana Grillo/MFF Thailand.
Part 2. Research approach
A three-tiered approach to critical gender analysis
The Regional Gender Analysis study project covered 12 countries in South and South East Asia: Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan, and the Philippines. Neither MFF nor SEAFDEC are new to these countries and have developed long-term working relationships. In these countries, the study explored national policy conditions that support gender equality in environment and natural resource management and local realities and norms influencing men’s and women’s engagement in on-the-ground decision-making regarding environment and natural resource management.
The project was developed in two phases over a 15-months period. Phase 1 produced: a. A regional literature review which explored gender patterns in coastal and fisheries resource management and provided an understanding of existing research and identified gaps to inform the design of the regional gender study. b. Twelve country profiles which provided national policy analyses of the wider context within which coastal resource management is taking place. c. A Gender Analysis Toolkit for coastal and fisheries management practitioners seeking to collect and analyse data on how gender impacts coastal ecosystems resource use and management. The toolkit provides a set of illustrative research questions and themes to guide data collection and analysis. d. Twelve gender analyses field studies based on sites in Bangladesh (2 studies), Cambodia (2), India (2), Indonesia (1), Maldives (1), Pakistan (2), Myanmar (1) and Sri Lanka (1). Detailed information on how men and women access, use and benefit from coastal and
13 marine resources, dynamics of power, control and decision-making, and on who is affected by or benefiting from development opportunities was part of the data collection. These analyses are intended to inform action agendas and planning. Data collection and analysis was conducted by trained local partners using the Gender Analysis Toolkit.
Data generated in Phase 1 paved the way for Phase 2 outputs, which examine the connectivity between national policy perspectives and the prevailing social, economic and political conditions of coastal resource-dependent communities. To overcome recent critiques and improve gender mainstreaming practice, the two phases were guided by a three-tiered gender analysis framework which values the combined approach of research and capacity building to empower and promotes a just and equitable social and ecological transformation. Figure 1 illustrates the approach and the dynamic and iterative process.
Figure 1 Three-tiered critical gender analysis framework
SECOND TIER Multiple-technique approch to data collection
FIRST TIER THIRD TIER Participatory capacity building Feminist political Gender Analysis Tool ecology (FPE) (GAT) and training approach to gender analysis
Critical Gender Analysis Study Project
The study approach combined national contexts, participatory capacity building of local staff in conducting critical gender analysis, mixed-methods approaches to data collection and data sources and sampling, and multiscale gender analysis.
1. The first tier, participatory capacity building, focussed on training staff and researchers in each national context and the development of the Gender Analysis Toolkit using a participatory methodology in both its design and operationalization at local levels. Partners contributed to the toolkit design while local researchers adapted and improved it through use for data collection and situational gender analysis in selected locations. Rounds of reviews by and communication with gender research experts further strengthened local gender analysis capacity. Learning from using the toolkit in field settings together with reflection and interactive dialogues between project partners when developing the final Regional Synthesis and Analysis contributed to refining the toolkit to its final form.
2. The second tier was a multi-technique approach to data collection and sampling of national and local contexts and ecosystems for gender analysis. The study identified aspects of interest more accurately by approaching from different vantage points and using different techniques for data collection. This allowed for capturing differently positioned voices and experiences. Through this approach, the study project gained in breadth and depth of understanding and corroboration through triangulation of typologies of information and research respondents.
14 3. The third tier, gender analysis, built a conceptual underpinning on a feminist political ecology framework. The final output was the Regional Synthesis Report on Gender in Coastal and Fisheries Resource Management. The report maps the policy connections at geographically nested political scales, while also accounting for the lived experiences of accessing and using local resources. The implicit commitment here is to identify practices and drivers of inequality.
The following paragraphs explain the approach in more detail.
The regional report presented here provides a synthesis of the content of three of the principal outputs completed in Phase 1, namely the literature review, country profiles and gender analyses. The report makes use of the rich material in the literature and policy reviews and the empirical data collected at community level in seven national contexts to: l Provide an analytical overview of the multiscale institutional and policy landscape and opportunities for mainstreaming gender in fisheries and coastal resource management in South and Southeast Asia. l Undertake a critical gender analysis in the fisheries and coastal resource sectors in South and Southeast Asia focussing on five domains for analysis: i) laws, regulations, and institutional practices and policy landscapes, ii) lived experiences of gender roles and responsibilities, iii) access to and control of resources, iv) participation and decision-making, and v) cultural norms, beliefs and perceptions. l Recommend gender equality and gender responsiveness in fisheries and coastal and marine resource management in South and Southeast Asia.
A range of ecosystems is represented across the study sites (Table 1) to capture and further contextualize the regional diversity which characterizes gendered interactions between communities and their environments and influences livelihoods development and ecosystems management 5.
Table 1 Study sites overview
Country Province, state, Type of village or town administrative region, district
Bangladesh Teknaf, Cox’s Bazar l Coastal communities
Shymnagar, Satkhira l Coastal communities
Nijhum Dwip l Island communities in a potential marine protected area
Cambodia Prey Nob District, Preah Sihanouk Province l Coastal communities
Kep Province l Fishing communities
India Krishna District, Andhra Pradesh l Delta communities
l Yanadis communities
l Fishing communities
Rajnagar Block of Kendrapara District, Odisha l Fishing and aquaculture communities
l Coastal communities
Maldives Addu City or Seenu Atoll l Island community
Sri Lanka Mullaithevu (Northern Province) of Kokkilai Lagoon Region l Lagoon communities Trincomalee (Eastern Province) of Kokkilai Lagoon Region
Indonesia Probolinggo District and Situbondo l Coastal communities District in East Java Province
5. A more detailed list including names of the villages and towns is Appendix 1.
15 Table 2 shows the variety of techniques used to collect data with a more detailed list providing insights on primary data sources in Appendix 2.
Table 2 Overview of techniques for data collection Country Techniques for data collection
Bangladesh Teknaf, Cox’s Bazar l Key informant interviews Shymnagar, Satkhira l In-depth interviews l Focus group discussions Nijhum Dwip in Noakhai District l Key informant interviews l Personal interviews l Focus group discussions Cambodia Prey Nob District, Preah Sihanouk Province l In-depth interviews l Key informant interview l Focus group discussions l Observation Kep Province l Key informant interviews l Focus group discussions India Krishna District l In-depth interviews l Key informant interview l Focus group discussions Odisha l Personal interviews l Focus group discussions Maldives l Stakeholder consultations l Focus group discussions Sri Lanka l Questionnaire l Key informant interviews l Focus group discussions l Non-participatory observation Indonesia l Interviews l Focus group discussions l Observation Pakistan Keti Bundar l Focus group discussions l Key informant interviews Gwatar Bay l Focus group discussions l Key informant interviews l Round table discussion Myanmar l Individual interviews l Focus group discussions l Key informant interviews Thailand l Individual interviews l Focus group discussions
By systematically mapping the policy connections at these geographically nested governance scales (see Part 3) and accounting for the lived experiences of accessing and using local resources, the present Regional Synthesis Report identifies practices and drivers of inequality and the constraints and disadvantages they pose to women in various contexts.
16 The feminist political ecology lens used for the Asia is a region full of natural and cultural analysis helps uncover contextualized gendered wonders. But the region faces critical challenges, power relations and captures a more nuanced including poverty, water shortages and climate understanding of the socially and historically change (IUCN). constructed, and constantly reformulated, gender roles and norms in the locations sampled. Differences among groups of women and their relationships with specific resources are also captured here revealing how access, use and control are mediated by their complex relations with men, family members and other local actors (Elmhirst & Resurrección, 2008). Such an approach to gender analysis allows researchers to grasp the cultural, political and economic structures and dynamics at different scales that work to shape inequalities.
Feminist political ecology
The feminist political ecology approach to research and practice provides a framework to gender as “a critical variable in shaping resource access and control, interacting with class, caste, race, culture, and ethnicity to shape processes of ecological change, the struggles of men and women to sustain ecologically viable livelihoods, and the prospects of any community for sustainable development” (Rocheleau et al. 1996: 4). It also points to multiscale dimensions and draws attention to how individual and household experiences are embodied and shaped by wider political and economic structures and processes (ibid.). Through close attention to gendered resource access and control, gendered subjectivities and power relations, multiscale governance and the feminist ethics of environmental care, this approach provides a more grounded analyses and contributes to better solutions for transformative change and environmental and social justice (Resurrección, B. 2017).
Using an intersectional approach further strengthens the analysis by embracing women’s diverse life experiences and goes beyond stereotypical household gender relations to interrogate other power dynamics resulting from the multiple and intersecting identities that one individual may have and that shape or hinder his or her vulnerability (i.e. age, class, social status, nationality and migration status). Hence, an intersectional gender analysis provides a more comprehensive understanding of gender and other social inequalities and helps development practitioners and government actors consider appropriate actions to address them in their programming.
Intersectionality
Intersectionality provides a useful lens which allows us to avoid simplification of individual identities as concrete, fixed, measurable beings and to capture instead the dynamic characteristics and intertwined structures and systems of power relations. It focuses on how gendered identities are formed by a plurality of overlapping social characteristics such as ethnicity, race, class, age and place. When applied to policy, an intersectional approach challenges the ‘one-size-fits-all’ by showing multiple identities and within-group diversity to uncover complex realities of domination, vulnerability, inequality and exclusion.
Context
Rates of mangrove, wetland and forest losses in Asia are among the highest in the world. Most Southeast Asian coral reefs are at risk of irreparable damage. Nearly 1,400 plants and animals in the region are now listed as Endangered and Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (IUCN, 2018). Adding to this, the region, while an engine of the global economy, is lagging on progress in gender equality in several areas such as education, health and survival, economic opportunity and political empowerment. The latest UN ESCAP Asia and the Pacific SDG Progress Report 2017 (UNESCAP, 2018) outlined the region’s failure to reduce inequalities. Inequalities have widened since 2000 and when gender
17 inequalities are specifically considered, there is a need to accelerate the rate of progress to meet SDG targets.
Despite enabling policies and programmes, gender inequalities prevail in employment as demonstrated by lower rates of women’s labour force participation, the gender pay gap and both vertical and horizontal occupational segregation (UNESCAP, 2015, 2018). Women are overrepresented in lower parts of the value chain where incomes are usually low and working conditions precarious. When they do the same work as men, they are often paid less by up to 40 per cent (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, International Fund for Agricultural Development, International Labour Office, 2010; International Labour Office, 2016). Patriarchal social norms perpetuate intra-household gender inequalities and systemic power imbalances, such as gendered market-driven approaches to development, and benefit from women’s and marginalized and poor groups cheap labour and further contribute to women’s segregation to the low paid end of the value chain.
Much of women’s work is unpaid and women are more likely to do unpaid work for family farms or Many countries in Southeast Asia have been businesses than men and do on average more than promoting gender equality in their programs after twice as much domestic and care work. When the adoption of the Beijing Declaration, especially confronted with disasters and environmental and in fisheries. However, it was only recently that this aspect was given much attention because of the climate change, images of rural women and girls need to assess the applicability of the FAO having to walk long distances to gather fuel and Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable water are dominant in the region. If left behind when Small-scale Fisheries in the Context of Food men migrate for work, most reporting highlights how Security and Poverty Eradication or SSF women’s work and responsibilities increase given the Guidelines (SEAFDEC, 2018). inadequate access to resources and lack of rights over the land they must look after. If migrating instead, women’s work is once again low-payed, if paid at all. Women migrant workers from Lao PDR, Myanmar and northern Thailand employed on shrimp farms in Southern Thailand would earn less than their husbands despite doing additional unpaid domestic work for their employers. Their wages reflect the gendered nature of the labour markets and specifically the institutionalized culture of gender discrimination within the fishery sector where women are often not considered ‘real workers’ (Resurrección & Sajor, 2010), a stigma which brings additional hardship to their already insecure life as a migrant worker 6. This has earned Asian migrant women workers the label of ‘quintessential service workers of globalization’ (Ahmed, 2006; Parrenas, 2017) greatly contributing to the success of the Asian tiger economies (Torre & Figge, 2018) .
While some generalizations regarding women’s conditions and gender inequalities can be made across the region, case studies in this project highlight how women’s multiple and intersecting identities translate into the differential inequalities they face in various Asian countries as for instance young women and girls, older women, heads of households, as indigenous women or migrant workers, as women belonging to different castes and living situations of conflict or environmental shocks, as women with disabilities, or as members of displaced families and communities (Pravalprukskul & Resurrección, 2018). The focus on specific locations within the broader regional landscape helps account for this diversity of women’s and men’s experiences in the fisheries sector, and more broadly coastal and marine resources, and for the multiscale governance, economic and geopolitical environments within which their lives are embedded. This section closes with a few snapshots of the national and local contexts explored in the gender
6. Intersecting axes of power further differentiate between opportunities and hardships faced by different groups of women in the fishery sector in Thailand. While internal Thai women migrants were able to supplement their incomes with livelihoods outside the shrimp farms, the Burmese women migrants were restricted from doing the same due to stringent immigration policies (Resurrección & Sajor, 2010).
18 analyses and which are testimony of the regional richness and variety of ecosystems and of its socioeconomic and political diversity, and women’s different positioning in the fishery sector and more broadly in the coastal resource contexts. Part 3 delves more deeply into the multiscale governance landscape.
Bangladesh and its 47,211 km 2coastal zone has rich marine and brackish water ecosystems such as the Sundarbans which are the world’s largest single compact mangrove forest. Thirty-nine million people live in the coastal area which has harsh living conditions and regular natural calamities in the form of violent storms and tropical cyclones originating in the Indian Ocean (Dasgupta et al., 2011). Marine fisheries are crucial to food security, employment and national economic development but overfishing and habitat degradation are threatening these fisheries (Ahmed, 2006; Rahman, Chowdhury & Sada, 2003). The Bangladesh Vision 2021 covers women’s rights and empowerment and gender mainstreaming in national development, while women are also targeted in the National Strategy for Accelerated Poverty Reduction (MoWCA, 2011). A National Council for Women and Child Development reviews program implementation and policies such as these to support socioeconomic development for women. While gender is mainstreamed to a certain extent in the fisheries sector and to a considerable extent in coastal resource management policies, gender equality measures could still be strengthened, especially as international and local NGOs are already working on integrating gender into programming and using gender-sensitive approaches.
In Cambodia, the coastline is relatively short, hence the sector is dominated by inland fisheries. The sector is key to food security and livelihoods and contributes to around 10% of the country’s GDP (UNIDO & MAFF, 2015). While Cambodia’s income and Human Development Index have significantly progressed in the last decade, 85% of the rural population remains largely dependent on natural resources and at least half are employed on a part-time basis in fisheries (Baran & Gallego, 2015). The coastal provinces have also undergone rapid development over the past decade, fuelled by foreign investments in industry, infrastructure, real estate and tourism. The Gender Strategic Plan IV 2014-2018 endeavours to eliminate gender disparities in any employment that may emanate from this rapid development through skills training, scholarships and improved livelihoods. Women constitute an important workforce in fisheries and play a greater role than men in aquaculture and a primary role in fish processing and marketing, which generates income for family maintenance. Gender has been mainstreamed in some fishery policies with the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries (Camcode), for example, emphasizing the importance women’s contributions and mainstreaming gender across activities. There are gender mainstreaming focal points and working bodies in all departments of ministries involved in coastal and fisheries resource management, although no concrete work on coastal management by gender institutions could be identified.
India’s coastline spans 7,500 km along the Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal and supports a great diversity of coastal ecosystems which have suffered from overexploitation and climate change impacts such as droughts and floods. From a socioeconomic perspective, coastal and marine resources are important as India is the world’s fourth largest fisheries producer and its coastal resources support one-third of the country’s population (FAO, 2015). Similar to Cambodia, women in India outnumber men in terms of employment in small-scale marine fisheries. Often this is because women dominate the postharvest sector, which provides over nine in ten of all fisheries jobs in small-scale fisheries. As researchers have observed, despite women’s contribution and although “ the sea is worshiped as a mother ”, the sea is still “ unaccepting of women in its domain ” (Ananya, 2017). Unlike the coastal resource policy landscape, where gender mainstreaming is not apparent, recent policies in the fishery sector in India are addressing women’s roles and needs in line with the national policy for women, which recognizes the need to mainstream gender in environmental policies. 19 Indonesia is the world’s largest island nation with over 17,000 islands and a coastline of around 81,000 km. Around 60% of the country’s population live in coastal areas, constituting one of the main pressures on coastal resources along with pollution, overexploitation and urbanization. The archipelago is also the largest producer of marine fisheries in Southeast Asia. One-third of the region’s total marine fisheries production in 2014 came from Indonesia (SEAFDEC, 2017). The fishery sector also secures livelihoods for millions of people. Unlike India and Cambodia, Indonesia has registered a drop in female employment in fisheries-related jobs (14.5 million women in 2014 down from 16 million in 2008). This is largely attributed to industrial modernization and mechanization. The Law on Protection and Empowerment of Fishers and Aquaculture Farmers acknowledges women’s involvement, however, the status of gender mainstreaming in fisheries and coastal management policies is either unclear or in preliminary stages. Gender policies and programs have also not referenced the coastal and fisheries resource management sector, indicating room for improvement.
The Republic of Maldives is an archipelago of 1,192 islands with one of the largest coral reef systems within its territorial boundaries. Protecting the environment and natural resources is critical to sustainable development for the Maldivian economy. The Maldives boasts a high Human Development Index score and is a middle-income country with growth driven by its tourism and fisheries sectors. The fisheries sector accounts for 11% of GDP and provides 20% of employment, while coastal tourism is the largest economic sector accounting for 30% of GDP (Gender Analysis, 13). Both the fisheries and coastal resource management sectors have little or no gender mainstreaming in their policies. The Fourth Tourism Master Plan is the only legal instrument that substantially addresses gender issues. The overall labour market is characterized by the under-representation of women and considerable gender imbalances (UNDP, 2011) with women’s employment in the country’s primary economic sector at only 0.2%. Despite efforts that have supported universal primary education, more girls in higher education, improved maternal health and established gender policies such as the 2016 Gender Equality Law, issues with equality and gender persist and women are yet to fully benefit from the country’s growth. This is demonstrated through the marked decline in Gender Inequality Index rankings in which the Maldives dropped from 91 in 2008 to 101 in 2011, to 105 in 2014 (Gender Analysis, 4). Gender-based violence persists and there is an unmet need for SRHR services. The radicalization of Islam in some sections of society is seen as contributing to gender inequalities as it further ties women’s identities and work to their reproductive roles. This, along with a heavily market-oriented economy devalues women’s engagement with and contributions to the country’s development.
Myanmar’s coastline is nearly 3,000 km long and the country has over 1,700 islands (Zöckler, Delaney, & Barber, 2013). Many of its coastal ecosystems remain unmapped and unmanaged, however, coastal resources are increasingly being accessed and opened up to investment. Myanmar’s offshore fisheries have been overexploited and tourism, watershed degradation and pollution are increasingly affecting the sustainability of coastal resource use (Boon, Callow, & Grantham, 2016; MFP, 2016) ). Fisheries are a major component of Myanmar’s economy and play a vital role in the socioeconomic lives of Myanmar’s people with thousands of households dependent on fisheries for their livelihoods and fish as a major part of daily meals and a source of protein. While women are critical actors in Myanmar’s fish production— they make and mend fishing nets, feed and catch fish from ponds, and process, cook and sell fish–they are not equally compensated for their work and have less access to and control over resources such as land compared to men. Lease certificates for fishing are issued to households only in the husband’s name and there is no joint certification system for husband and wife (Aregu, 2017). Gender is not cross-cutting across the policy landscape with only some policies related to coastal and fisheries resource management mainstreaming gender and the Department of Fisheries only recently initiating mainstreaming efforts. Development and capacity building projects by NGOs related to the fisheries sector, however, have been mainstreaming gender. 20 Pakistan has a coastline of 1,100 km along its two coastal provinces of Baluchistan and Sindh and is home to the largest arid climate mangrove forest in the world. Unlike Indonesia, the coastal zone of Pakistan is sparsely populated with the large industrial city of Karachi being the only exception (Hornby, Khan, Zylich & Zeller, 2014). The existing communities have access to a wealth of coastal fisheries resources from the Indus River Delta, making fisheries a major generator of export earnings. Although women’s participation has been promoted in legal instruments such as the National Policy Framework 2007 and the Strategy for Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, gender is not always considered by the Fisheries Department and is not mainstreamed in most policies and programs related to coastal resource management institutions. Gender equality in terms of resource ownership is also poor with only 2% of married women aged 15 to 49 owning land alone or jointly, according to the latest Demographic and Health Survey 2012–2013 (Zaidi & Farooq, 2016). Even in cases where women own land, they rarely control its use (Khan, 2016) even though “ according to Islamic law women can inherit land ” (Gender Analysis, 13). In Gwadar in Baluchistan, where the gender analysis was undertaken, a woman does have “some control over the property acquired from her husband as dowry ” (Gender Analysis, 5).
Sri Lanka has a range of valuable ecosystems (e.g. lagoons, mangroves and coral reefs, among others) that constitute its 1,700 km coastline. Fisheries are of considerable socioeconomic importance for the food security and livelihoods of coastal communities and the national economy. The sector was central to post-war reconstruction discussions in the country. Beyond the monetary value, the fisheries sector is a major employment provider. In 2012, three districts of the eastern province alone employed 38 percent of all those engaged in the country’s 15 fishing districts, with Trincomalee alone accounting for 14% (Department of Fisheries & Aquatic Resources, 2013). Fishing is strongly associated with men, while women are seen to play an auxiliary role. Thus, women’s involvement in fishery livelihoods is dismissed despite their engagement in marine and lagoon fishing livelihoods to support their families. This is exacerbated by a complete lack of gender mainstreaming in coastal management policies. Preliminary changes, however, have been made with a draft national policy encompassing a gender policy promoting equal opportunities while also outlining government support for women in fisheries. This case study offered insights into how situations of conflict and post-conflict dynamics contribute to changing gender roles.
Thailand has a coastline of 2,815 kilometres along 32 coastal provinces that border the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea. Thailand’s seafood industry employs over 170,000 fishers, of which four out of five are migrant workers (Issara Institute and International Justice Mission, 2017). Women are also becoming increasingly involved through their work on fish farms and through migration, with many women migrating from Cambodia to Thailand for seafood processing jobs. Although Thailand remains one of the top exporters of seafood in the world, its marine capture production has declined drastically over the past decade (SEAFDEC, 2017; FAO, 2017). Thailand’s mangrove forests have also dramatically decreased in the past half century, primarily because of aquaculture expansion and coastal development. In terms of gender mainstreaming efforts, the main policy is the 2017–2021 Women’s Development Strategy and a cabinet resolution in 2011 further required all ministries and departments to have a Chief Gender Equality Officer (CGEO). In the Department of Fisheries specifically, there is a CGEO, a Gender Equality Coordination Centre, a Gender Mainstreaming Working Group, and a Master Plan for Gender Equality (DOF, 2007). A Gender Equality Promotion Committee establishes policies and plans to promote gender equality in all private and public entities. Despite these efforts by the Thai government, the local realities of gender mainstreaming in policies regarding coastal resources management and fisheries have been fragmented.
21 A woman collecting shellfish - Nijhum Dwip, Bangladesh. © Mohammad Shahad Mahabub/IUCN Bangladesh.
Part 3. Gender equality and women’s empowerment in coastal and fisheries resource management in South and Southeast Asia: A multiscale policy landscape and opportunities for mainstreaming
This section offers an understanding of the regional policy landscape by providing broad contextual information on institutions and policy for gender and fisheries and coastal resource management.
Integrated coastal management
An important concept referenced throughout this section and which has emerged in contemporary movements related to coastal resources management and policy is integrated coastal management (ICM). Recognition of the fragility and dynamism of coastal ecosystems and the tight coupling of social and environmental systems in coastal zones led to the parallel development of integrated coastal zone management (ICZM) and ecosystem-based coastal zone management in the 1980s and 1990s. While both are similar in terms of an integrated approach to management across natural and social systems, ICZM emphasizes multiscale institutional and governance issues, while ecosystem-based management has a stronger ecosystem and biodiversity management perspective (Pravalprukskul & Resurrección, 2018:18).
According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN, n.d), ICM is a process that requires active and sustained involvement, analysis and interactions between physical and human activities, and promotes links and harmonization among coastal and ocean sectors. ICM is relevant in advancing gender mainstreaming. ICM is typically a collaborative approach that expands partnerships, for example, by providing an opportunity for effective gender mainstreaming through the involvement of women’s organizations or gender experts and specialists
22 who can advocate gender-sensitive policies, exchange training and act as advisors (Diamond, Squillante & Hale, 2003).
The ICM approach has increasingly been highlighted as essential for policy making and has become integrated into a range of international instruments (Ducrotoy & Pullen, 1999). With support from NGOs, ICM has become increasingly recognized at national and local scales (Diamond et al., 2003; Ducrotoy & Pullen, 1999). This highlights the influence that international policies can have on coastal resource management in the national context and the important role of NGOs (Ducrotoy & Pullen, 1999).
Although ICM highlights the need to integrate different sectors of coastal management and has been recognized at global and national scales, its actual application has been limited in regions like Asia where coastal areas remain predominantly managed by independent sectors. In recent years, SEAFDEC, in collaboration with FAO, NOAA and other partners introduced the concept of ecosystem-based management to fisheries management (EAFM), which offers a practical and effective means to manage fisheries more holistically by looking at systems and decision-making processes that balance environmental, human and social well-being within improved governance frameworks. EAFM strengthens the engagement of all stakeholders considered to benefit sustainable fisheries, biodiversity and habitat protection and human well-being. Throughout the process, EAFM strengthens co-management with the engagement of all stakeholders. The interactions among users are important elements and the role of men and women is considered to balance improved well-being.
Relevance of international policy context for gender
The cross-scale influence of ICM highlights an important avenue for gender integration as the numerous environmental and development-related multilateral international instruments that recognize the importance of gender may be translated to national and local scales. One international agreement ratified in many countries in Asia with a focus on gender is the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). This instrument is devoted to gender equality and explicitly defines the right of women to be free from discrimination and maps the range of actions that must be taken to achieve gender equality while also calling on states to embed principles of equality in their constitutions and legislation. CEDAW has also recently integrated articles that relate to environmental issues, highlighting a key entry point for gender integration in coastal and marine resources in Asia (UN Women, 2011). The 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BFA) also aims at achieving greater equality and opportunities for women and establishes priority actions to be carried out in twelve critical areas of concern, environment being one of them (Section K). It explicitly draws attention to gender and sexual violence that impacts women in both armed conflict and natural disaster situations. All countries in this study have ratified two environmentally-focused international agreements, the Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), that attempt to mainstream gender through a gender action plan (GAP) 7. The GAPs mandate a range of gender-focused actions under priority areas as illustrated in Table 3. Those actions can serve as strategic entry points for the creation of a conducive environment for gender- responsive policies at national and local levels. Other international agreements that integrate gender issues include Agenda 21, which sets the stage for gender integration at community level, the Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the Sustainable Development Goals, and the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries and Indigenous Peoples.
7. The GAP is newly introduced (2017) while the UNFCCC came into effect as a legally binding agreement after 1992.
23 Table 3 Priority areas under the GAPs of the CBD and UNFCCC (UN Environment, n.d; UNFCCC, 2017).
Priority areas under the CBD’s GAP Key priority Areas under the UNFCCC’s GAP
1) Policy sphere: Provide a framework for integrating a 1) Capacity building, knowledge sharing and gender perspective in all Secretariat divisions. communication: Enhance understanding and expertise of stakeholders on systematic integration 2) Organizational sphere: Address gender equality in of gender considerations and application. staffing, institutional capacity, staff development accountability and equal opportunity policies. 2) Gender balance, participation and women’s leadership: Achieve and sustain the full, equal and 3) Delivery sphere: Mainstream a gender perspective in meaningful participation of women. the formulation and implementation of the CBD. 3) Coherence: Consistent implementation of gender- 4) Constituency sphere: CBD should mobilize partners related mandates and activities by strengthening the and build on existing efforts, best practices and integration of gender considerations within all work. lessons learned. 4) Gender-responsive implementation and means of implementation: Ensure the respect, promotion and consideration of gender equality and empowerment in implementation.
5) Monitoring and reporting: Improve tracking in relation to implementation of and reporting on gender-related mandates.
Within the international policy landscape, there are instruments for coastal and fisheries resource management. For example, the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries aims to help countries direct their fisheries and aquaculture developments towards achieving sustainability. Although gender issues are notably absent from the Code, more recent programmes implementing the Code have mainstreamed gender in their implementation through FAO’s Gender Policy. This policy promotes gender equality and women’s empowerment in rural development, agriculture and resource management. This is further complemented by the FAO Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries which encompasses principles and guidance for small-scale fisheries governance and development. In this document, gender equality is a key guiding principle, gender considerations are discussed in various sections, and compliance with human rights laws is encouraged.
This international gender and environment policy landscape depicts how, internationally, there is a collective call for gender inclusiveness, mainstreaming and sensitivity which should, similar to ICM, become reflected in national policy. These international instruments can play an integral role in gender mainstreaming as they promote gender equality and highlight the importance of gender dimensions, and can influence the establishment of a conducive policy environment for gender-responsive integrated coastal and fisheries resource management.
Translating international instruments into national policy has been observed in some study countries with Thailand, for example, alluding to Goal 5 of the SDGs in their Five-Year Strategy and integrating SDGs into their 20-Year National Strategy Framework. India has also emphasized women’s participation for meeting all SDGs in their National Policy for Women and, in alignment with international environmental agreements, emphasized the incorporation of gender concerns into policies on climate change, environmental conservation and restoration. The gender analysis in Cambodia highlighted how SDG’s Goal 5 has become relevant for bringing women to the front line of coastal resource management and how the Strategic Planning Framework for Fisheries (2010–2019) was linked to the gender equality segments of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Although these already adopted international agreements provide an entry point through which countries can integrate gender aspects, this
24 translation of policy from international to national scales is not always observed. When countries are lagging behind it is often because of a lack of capacity and relevant data, resources, or political will (Aregu et al., 2017) .
The following sections focus on understanding the regional policy landscape through providing an overview of fisheries and coastal resource management institutions, a summary of existing policies, regulations, laws and frameworks, and an outline of existing efforts in gender integration. To address the gap between international instruments and national and local scales in terms of gender integration in Asia, opportunities for gender mainstreaming will be highlighted
Regional policy landscape
Several bodies are governing the regional intergovernmental architecture of South and Southeast Asia’s fisheries and coastal resource management. Among these, the Coordinating Body on the Seas of East Asia (COBSEA) is a regional intergovernmental policy forum and the sole decision-making body for the Action Plan for the Protection and Development of the Marine Environment and Coastal Areas of the East Asian Seas Region (the East Asian Seas Action Plan). The Action Plan was developed in response to concerns about the effects and sources of marine pollution in the region. COBSEA supports nine participating countries (Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, the People’s Republic of China, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam) in the development and protection of the marine environment and coastal areas of East Asian Seas. The COBSEA Secretariat is hosted by Thailand and administered by UN Environment. COBSEA focuses on marine and land-based pollution, coastal and marine habitat conservation, and management and response to coastal disasters through information management, national capacity building, addressing strategic and emerging issues, and regional cooperation.
The South Asia Co-operative Environment Programme (SACEP) is an intergovernmental organization, established in 1982 by the governments of South Asia to promote and support protection, management and enhancement of the environment. SACEP member countries include Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. SACEP also serves as the secretariat of the UNEP’s South Asian Seas Programme (SASP). The SASP Action Plan aims to protect and effectively manage the marine and coastal environment of the south Asian Seas Region. The South Asia Coral Reef Task Force (SACRTF) was established to promote transboundary cooperation and coordinated responses to coastal management challenges.
Although these instruments do not provide any specific focus on integration of gender, several bodies and transboundary projects are making steady progress by considering gender issues in their mandated areas. For example, the intergovernmental Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia Pacific (NACA) has adopted a gender mainstreaming policy. These efforts use the expertise of existing partner groups and mentors. The FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific has also developed a Regional Gender Strategy and Action Plan 2017–2019 which aims to support and build on the FAO Gender Equality Policy. In terms of transboundary projects, the Bay of Bengal Large Marine Ecosystem Project and Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries (Nansen project of FAO and Norway) used gender desk audits to help guide their work (Williams, 2016). The transboundary Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI) similarly incorporated gender action plans and has a Women Leaders’ Forum that acts as a network for women leaders in marine resources management. The Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center (SEAFDEC) has also been highlighted in the ASEAN-SEAFDEC Plan of Action on Sustainable Fisheries for Food Security for the ASEAN Region Towards 2020, calling for “ strengthened capacity of relevant stakeholders and
25 harmonized initiatives that support fishing communities and governments, with a special focus on women and youth .” During the Special Meeting of the SEAFDEC Council in November 2017, the Council adopted a Resolution on the Future of SEAFDEC, including the Vision, Mission, and Strategies Towards 2030 viz, “Sustainable management and development of fisheries and aquaculture to contribute to food security, poverty alleviation and livelihoods of people in the Southeast Asian region,” highlighting the importance of small-scale fisheries, welfare of labour in fisheries, safety at sea, and gender equality in fisheries and aquaculture. SEAFDEC provides the opportunity to promote gender awareness in the region through training at project and regional levels and through workshops and consultations.
Other programmes, as part of IUCN’s work in the region, include Mangroves for the Future (MFF) which is a partnership initiative promoting investments in coastal ecosystems to support sustainable development, the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) which enables civil society to participate in the conservation of critical ecosystems, and Building River Dialogue and Governance in the Mekong Region (BRIDGE) which promotes a shared vision for sustainable use of water resources in the 3S river basin (the Sekong, Sesan and Sre Pok transboundary rivers of Cambodia, Lao PDR and Vietnam). These programmes enhance collaboration across the region and an integrated approach to coastal and fisheries management while working towards mainstreaming gender at different levels.
Various subregional frameworks provide scope for an integrated approach to gender mainstreaming. The Social Charter of SAARC was enacted in 2004 and focuses on development and social welfare of people in South Asia and refers to the protection and sustainable use of the environment. The Charter also refers to human rights and several references to gender. It explicitly addresses women’s empowerment in Article VI: Promotion of the Status of Women by requiring states to recognize that empowering women is an important development objective and that “ empowerment requires the full participation of people in the formulation, implementation and evaluation of decisions and sharing the results equitably ”. The Charter commits SAARC to working towards combatting discrimination and violence against women while strengthening policies that broaden and ensure their participation in political, economic, social and cultural spheres. While the Social Charter does not explicitly link human rights and gender equality with environmental management, it can still be an important document for the region as it uses gender-relevant language often absent in other SAARC policy documents and frameworks.
The ASEAN Foreign Ministers signed the Declaration on the Advancement of Women in July 1988. The Declaration is an important milestone for the women’s empowerment agenda in the region as it acknowledges women as central agents and beneficiaries of development. The Declaration states the need to integrate women’s perspectives into regional plans and national agendas.
Since the Hanoi Plan of Action in 1998, the institutionalization of women’s concerns in ASEAN has strongly prioritised the protection of women against violence as this is understood as an impediment to the achievement of equality and development. In 2004, the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women was drafted in Jakarta. The ASEAN Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children (ACWC) was inaugurated in 2010 as the new main body to promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms of women and children in ASEAN. Importantly, the ACWC Work Plan 2012–2016 has incorporated women’s access to education, political participation, and economic empowerment as women’s rights.
26 The ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Blueprint 2025 (ASCC Blueprint) is a strategy document that emphasizes human development and environmental sustainability. The ASCC Blueprint makes several references to gender equality and women and girls’ empowerment and refers to gender-disaggregated data and gender mainstreaming in ASEAN policies, programmes and budgets across sectors. The ASEAN Declaration on the Gender-Responsive Implementation of the ASEAN Community Vision 2025 then commits to gender-responsive implementation of these ASEAN blueprints, with a particular emphasis on resilience and ability to adapt and respond to climate change. This Declaration also ensures strong links to the international policy area through reaffirming ASEAN’s commitments to international treaties including CEDAW and situating ASEAN’s work on gender equality within the broader context of the SDGs and other international development agreements.
National level
Institutional landscape Under a single government ministry usually related to a combination of fisheries, livestock, marine affairs, agriculture, irrigation, aquatic resources development or forestry, most countries in the region have one department or administration responsible for fishery resource management at a national scale. In terms of research, Bangladesh, India and Malaysia have separate research institutes such as the Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute and the Fishery Survey of India and the Maritime Institute of Malaysia’s Centre for Coastal and Marine Environments (Ahmed, 2006; DAHDF, 2018; MIMA, 2018).
Along with the ministries responsible for fisheries, coastal management in these countries involves ministries responsible for water resources, environment and forests and those related to industry, mining, energy, and tourism. In Myanmar for example, although the Department of Fisheries under the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation is responsible for marine parks, reserves and protected areas, departments under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation are responsible for environmental impact assessments, quality standards, conservation and mangrove forest management. This illustrates the lack of an integrated approach to coastal management in the region. Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Thailand also have several institutions, communes, agencies or coordinating committees involved, although to a lesser degree.
Decentralized systems Although there is often one department that oversees fishery resources management, some countries have a more decentralized system of responsibility. Indonesia for example, encompasses three levels of institutions (federal, provincial and district), each responsible for resource management in specific zones (e.g. the provincial government is responsible for management within 12 nautical miles from the coast). In Indonesia and Vietnam, although national ministries set national policies and regulations, provincial governments implement policy, law and regulations and manage their jurisdictions. Similarly, India and the Philippines have ‘maritime states’ or local government units that have jurisdiction over certain zones and, in the case of India, an associated Marine Fisheries Regulation Act for each state. Cambodia also has Fisheries Cantonments that implement field activities at provincial level.
In terms of collaboration across scales, Cambodia and the Philippines have local fisheries organizations which, in Cambodia, are community-run and supported by the government (Kurien, 2017), and in the Philippines have joint management mechanisms involving the central government, municipalities and fishers (FAO, 2014). This is similar to Vietnam where a range of organizations, cooperatives and state- owned enterprises under the Vietnam Fisheries Society act as a link between fishers and governments (Pomeroy, Parks, Courtney, Collier & Mattich, 2014).
27 Similar to the fisheries sector, several countries (e.g. Indonesia, Maldives, Pakistan, the Philippines and Vietnam) also have a decentralized system of coastal zone management, albeit in varying degrees and different ways. For example, Indonesia’s city, district, provincial and national governments have different jurisdictions and responsibility for resource management and conservation, administration and legal enforcement of marine areas depending on their distance from a shoreline (Ferrol-Schulte, Gorris, Baitoningsih, Adhuri & Ferse, 2015; Patlis, Dahuri, Knight & Tulungen, 2001). In the Maldives, coastal zone management works at the atoll and island levels (IUCN & BOBLME, 2010; Jaleel, 2013).
Potential for ICM Excluding Sri Lanka and Thailand with one main government agency charged with coastal zone management, most countries have not employed an ICM approach as they are overseen by two or more ministries that hold responsibilities in specific areas. This fragmented structure can result in a lack of coordination between ministries (Boon, Callow & Grantham, 2016) and jurisdictional overlaps and result in conflicts or a vacuum between agencies (Hiew, Saad & Gopinath, 2012; Saad, 2013; Wever, Glaser, Gorris & Ferrol-Schulte, 2012).
The marine resources and fisheries sector in Asia encompasses a wide range of strategic plans, policies and regulations. The issues that have emerged in the fisheries and marine resources policy landscape are management, conservation, development and modernization of marine fisheries and livelihood promotion, sustainable exploitation, illegal fishing, and maritime zones and aquaculture. Conversely, policies for coastal resource management include a wide range of strategic plans, policies and regulations which cover issues such as water, forestry, wildlife and marine life, biodiversity, environmental impact assessments, mining, fisheries, integrated coastal zone management, tourism and coastal zone and protected areas management. Appendix 3 summarizes the existing national instruments under issues. Regulations specific to certain contexts also emerged with Sri Lanka for example, linking fisheries with urban development through the Urban Development Authority Law (1978). Bangladesh has specific laws addressing mangroves and aquaculture, while Malaysia and the Maldives encompass maritime vessel and shipping laws not identified elsewhere. Although ministries responsible for climate change issues are often involved in coastal resource management, Malaysia and India are the only countries to have a national policy and district plan of action that addresses the link between climate change and coastal resource management. A range of policies from Bangladesh, Cambodia, Malaysia, the Maldives and Myanmar cut across these themes. Myanmar’s Environment Protection Rules 2014, for example, address environmental conservation concerns, pollution and environmental impact assessments.
This brief synthesis shows the potential for ICM to overcome limitations associated with sector-based coastal resource management through improved coordination between agencies and their associated laws and policies. This shift has been observed in Asia with Bangladesh, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Vietnam having implemented ICM approaches. Similarly, Malaysia has implemented an ecosystem-based approach to fisheries management. Other countries such as India and Pakistan are in the initial stages of developing and implementing ICM strategies (MFF Pakistan, 2014). In India, the Blue Revolution integrates development and fisheries management to increase production and improve fisher and fish farmer incomes using an ICM approach (DAHDF, 2016). India is also instituting an ICM plan through pilot projects with support from the World Bank (MOEF, 2006; World Bank, 2018). Countries such as Cambodia, however, have no national ICM plan, despite running ICM demonstration sites to test its potential. This inter-country gradient in terms of adopting an ICM approach highlights the opportunity in this region to adopt ICM and resolve coordination issues.
28 Several countries have specific strategies, policies and laws related to integrated resources management, such as the National Strategy for Integrated Resource Management 2020–2030 in Vietnam and transboundary coastal management initiatives such as the Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI). In Indonesia and Malaysia, as part of or inspired by the CTI, a National Plan of Action outlines targets related to seascape designation and management while guiding the application of an ecosystem approach to the management of fisheries, marine protected areas and climate change (Hiew et al., 2012; Republic of Indonesia, 2015). Bangladesh, the Maldives, Sri Lanka and India are also members of the Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) Bay of Bengal Large Marine Ecosystem Project (BOBLME) which is a transboundary program that aims to restore fisheries resources and coastal systems, improve water quality and address socioeconomic challenges in coastal communities. Gender-sensitive approaches and analyses were included in the strategic action plan (BOBLME, 2015).
Gender mainstreaming efforts
Efforts to support gender equality, women’s rights and empowerment and address gendered issues have been made across the countries in this study. Each country’s recognition of the importance of gender considerations is demonstrated through government agencies with primary and sole responsibilities for promoting gender equality. All countries in this study have a government ministry, department or national commission or committee responsible for mainstreaming gender in all policies and programmes and monitoring and evaluating activities to assess contributions towards achieving equality. In Cambodia, the Ministry of Women’s Affairs National Council for Women plays an advocacy role in encouraging public institutions, the private sector and civil society to integrate gender equality into all activities. Countries with an overarching gender ministry or department, are often complemented by gender-focused bodies such as national councils or committees (e.g. Bangladesh, Malaysia, Maldives and Thailand) and national and state level women’s commissions (India) with advisory responsibilities.
These gender-focused agencies play a vital role in enacting a range of national laws and policies. This includes broader frameworks and policies for achieving gender equality (e.g. Cambodia’s Strategic Plan for Gender Equality, Malaysia’s Gender Equality Act and Women’s Empowerment Neary Rattanak IV 2014-2018, and India’s National Policy for Women 2016) or those that pertain to specific, standalone gendered issues such as domestic violence, harassment in the workplace, and rights in marriage. In Bangladesh for example, there is a Domestic Violence Act 2010 and a National Action Plan to Prevent Violence Against Women and Children 2013–2025.
Although these policies are important and in line with other policies across the region (e.g. Indonesia’s Presidential Instruction on Gender Mainstreaming (No. 9/2000) or the Maldives’ National Gender Equality Policy 2009), gender should be mainstreamed into the planning, implementing and monitoring of all policies, programmes and activities across sectors and ministries. To support this kind of mainstreaming, systems or networks for inter-sectoral and inter-ministerial collaboration have been observed in several countries: l In Thailand, through a Gender Equality Promotion Committee, there is often collaboration with ministries and organizations in establishing policies and plans to promote gender equality. A cabinet resolution in 2011 required all ministries and their departments to have a Chief Gender Equality Officer (CGEO). These officers can be consulted for recommendations on gender mainstreaming measures.
29 l In Vietnam, there is a National Committee for the Advancement of Women (NCFAW) which oversees gender equality and a network of Committees for the Advancement of Women in all ministries, agencies and provinces. Vietnam’s Women’s Union also works with these committees at the grassroots level (Wells, 2005). l The Philippines has a Philippine Commission on Women which has a special focus area on women and the environment. This group provided advice for mainstreaming gender in the Comprehensive National Fisheries Industry Development Plan 2006–2025.
Systems such as these have enabled the integration of gender considerations into specific policies about development, poverty, employment, human trafficking, politics, and health in Asia. For example, in Bangladesh the National Health Policy 2011 emphasized the importance of directing attention to women’s sexual and reproductive health in coastal areas and attending to gendered health concerns emanating from disasters and climate change (Hasiba et al., 2017). In terms of gender in the coastal management and fisheries policy landscape however, efforts have been fragmented, inadequate or non- existent. There is often little overlap between the work of government gender agencies and those relevant to coastal management and fisheries. This will be further discussed with a focus on fisheries and coastal management which shows different levels of gender mainstreaming. Several countries such as Malaysia and Myanmar emerge as having weak overall gender mainstreaming in the fisheries policy landscape. Malaysia, for example, has no national fisheries policy that addresses gender besides a World Bank funded project (World Bank, 2017). Similarly, although gender mainstreaming has been initiated within the department, Myanmar’s three existing fisheries laws make no reference to gender and it is unknown whether the ongoing Rural Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy will integrate gender considerations (Ministry of Livestock, Fisheries and Rural Development, 2011). Myanmar also lacks sex- disaggregated data which produces difficulties for setting and achieving gender equality objectives (Aregu et al., 2017).
For those countries that do make a gender mainstreaming effort, a piecemeal approach emerges as have several aspects of fisheries policy that do not adequately consider gender. For example, although Sri Lanka’s draft national policy contains gender equality policy and support for women in fisheries, the main 1996 Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Act does not mention gender issues. Similar contradictions were found in Indonesia and Bangladesh. Bangladesh’s 1998 National Fisheries Policy illustrates how gender considerations and mainstreaming can be incomplete as participation and technological training is only emphasized for inland water bodies as opposed to coastal aquaculture (MoFL, 1998). As it is often the main responsibility of gender ministries to effectively mainstream gender across sectors, these issues highlight an opportunity for inter-ministerial collaboration between gender-focused and fishery-focused agencies and policies.
In contrast, the Department of Fisheries in Thailand has been praised for the strength of its gender mainstreaming policies and measures, even though gender issues are only directly addressed in the gender equality master plan and not in other policies and work plans. The lack of integration of human rights issues in Thailand’s fishery industry was also observed when a ‘yellow card’ was issued under the European Union’s Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported (IUU) regulation due to alleged labour abuses and illegal trafficking of migrant workers among other issues (European Parliament, 2016). This resulted in Thai government officials pledging to improve labour conditions and ratifying the International Labour Organization protocols (ILO, 2018).
The ratification of the IUU regulation may also have gender implications. Fisheries institutions have historically focused on issues about male migrant workers because of their large numbers and revelations
30 of abuse by international media. Information on women migrants in the sector is sparse. However, cases are emerging that show more women are migrating for seafood processing jobs from Cambodia to Thailand for instance, or as labour on fish farms, particularly in Thailand (Pravalprukskul & Resurrección, 2018). The potential influence that policies beyond the national scale such as the IUU regulation can have on instigating change at a national level is emphasized here as a main consideration for gender mainstreaming.
At the other end of the spectrum, there has been some success in gender mainstreaming in the fisheries sector. National fisheries policy instruments, for example in Bangladesh, Pakistan, the Philippines and Sri Lanka, have committed to improving opportunities, participation and empowerment for women. Several countries have also endorsed existing gender policies or created new plans to strengthen gender mainstreaming processes. In 2007 for example, the Fisheries Administration in Cambodia endorsed the existing Gender Mainstreaming Policy and Strategy in the Agriculture Sector and has a complementary Gender Working Group (Kaing & Heng, 2011) while also linking their Strategic Planning Framework for Fisheries (2010–2019) with the gender equality segments of the MDGs. Other countries such as Thailand have ensured that besides its master plan for gender equality (DOF, 2007), the Department of Fisheries has a Chief Gender Equality Officer, a Gender Equality Coordination Centre, and a Gender Mainstreaming Working Group. These aspects further highlight the importance of inter-ministry collaboration between the fisheries and gender sectors.
Similar to the fisheries sector, coastal resource management in each country has different levels of gender mainstreaming efforts. Some countries such as Bangladesh have mainstreamed gender considerably in women’s participation in policy and plan formulation and the consideration of women’s roles and needs. Bangladesh’s Coastal Zone Policy 2005 for example, emphasizes gender inequality and aims to address it through participatory ICM and gender-sensitive approaches. Similarly, gender has been mainstreamed in the ICM programs of the Philippines where staff and municipalities have been trained in gender sensitization (DENR, 2013). Cambodia’s Ministry of Women’s Affairs, although not directly involved in coastal resource management, has coordinated with ministries to mainstream gender into their programs and produced a Gender Mainstreaming Policy and Strategic Framework in Agriculture (2016–2020). This highlights the important role of gender-focused ministries in mainstreaming gender in coastal resources and fisheries management activities. Other countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia, through programs in the CTI, are also in preliminary stages of integrating gender issues into coastal management programs, while Cambodia, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam have no clear gender mainstreaming efforts in coastal zone management policies carried out by the government.
Among countries that do consider gender, the piecemeal approach to gender mainstreaming re-emerges. In the Maldives, where little gender mainstreaming was found in policies, the Fourth Tourism Master Plan addresses gender issues considerably (MOTAC, 2013). Similarly in Myanmar, gender is mainstreamed in some coastal resource management policy and a regional marine ecosystem projects but not in the new marine spatial planning strategy. Fragmented gender considerations were also found in the coastal management policy landscapes of Pakistan (Ministry of Environment, 2005). Improved inter-ministerial collaboration and increased involvement of gender ministries in mainstreaming gender across sectors is required. In these contexts, the ICM approach and the opportunity to align efforts across national and local governments and NGOs may become valuable for gender integration.
31 Opportunities for gender mainstreaming in coastal and fisheries resource management
The analysis of the country profiles emphasized several overarching opportunities for implementing and strengthening gender mainstreaming in the region. Table 4 provides a synthesis which can inform regional policy reflection. One opportunity that emerged as particularly relevant to Malaysia, Myanmar and Indonesia is mainstreaming gender in policies and strategies being developed by gender agencies. Examples include the National Aquaculture Development Plan, the National Plan of Action on IUU fishing, and the Marine Spatial Planning Strategy in Myanmar.
Civil society organizations with strong networks across countries should share good gender integration practices with other NGOs. In Thailand for example, organizations such as the Raks Thai Foundation should share gender policies and mainstreaming strategies with other local NGOs through platforms such as the Assembly of NGOs for the Protection and Conservation of Environment and Natural Resources. For the Philippines where in the last decade many local and international NGOs have been working together on gender, fisheries and coastal management, extracting lessons learned and good practices would be timely. In Pakistan, Cambodia and Indonesia, there is an important opportunity and a need for collaboration as a strong NGO presence has been linked to overlapping agendas in terms of gender equality and coastal resource management.
Government agencies responsible for gender should become more involved with and support gender mainstreaming in other ministries and institutions responsible for fisheries and coastal management. Countries where this collaboration could take place include: Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar and Sri Lanka. Countries with existing collaboration systems and networks such as the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam should take advantage of these while countries that lack inter-sectoral collaboration should be encouraged to adopt similar initiatives. Relevant gender-focused strategic plans and policies should integrate fisheries and coastal resource management issues. In Myanmar for example, this could be done for existing and future iterations of the National Strategic Plan for the Advancement of Women.
The decentralized structure of some countries provides an opportunity for gender mainstreaming. In Vietnam for example, there is potential for policy implementation at the provincial level as the Fisheries Departments can collaborate with the Provincial People’s Committees and Provincial Committees for the Advancement of Women. In the Philippines, the joint management mechanisms through the Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Management Councils (comprised of central government, municipalities and fishers) also offers windows of opportunity for further enhancing gender mainstreaming in alignment with local priorities. These recommendations are not without challenges. In India, although working with local teams has advantages in terms of easy rapport building and sustained impact, there is a danger of bringing existing gender biases into project implementation. Similarly, fisheries communities in Cambodia are reminders of the complexities of gender integration at local levels. In the village of Chumpu Khmau (Toul Toetueng Commune), suggestions by women were rarely considered, resulting in the resignation of women from committees. These examples highlight how opportunities and benefits can be lost if communities are treated as homogenous units in which internal, deep-rooted power relations are overlooked (Guijt & Shah, 1998).
The increasingly implemented ICM approach provides an opportunity for gender mainstreaming and gender-responsive coastal resource management as all efforts between national and local governments and local and international NGOs can be aligned. For countries still in the initial stages of ICM implementation (e.g. Cambodia, India and Pakistan), strong gender-focused NGOs, institutions and
32 agencies should be active partners in developing and implementing ICM strategies at all levels. In the Philippines and Pakistan, gender-focused agencies were specifically identified as bodies to ensure cohesion in ICM gender mainstreaming. The role of gender-focused government agencies in mainstreaming gender re-emerged here. The Pakistan, Indian and Malaysian contexts highlighted the important supporting and monitoring role that the IUCN and NGOs can play. Similarly, transboundary programs such as the Coral Triangle Initiative Plan of Action can be important starting points or building blocks for gender mainstreaming as programs like these promote social learning among participants. These programs, through creating relationships and sharing information, generate a strong social capital base which can help achieve social goals such as gender equality (Pietri, Stevenson & Christie, 2015).
There is a significant need for collaboration between and within government agencies and civil society. Some collaboration efforts have been seen, for example, between the Cambodian Women in Fisheries Network and local and international NGOs (Matics, Poeu & Siason, 2002). This kind of collaboration was a key recommendation across the region. In Thailand, IUCN could engage with the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources to mainstream gender in the implementation of policy. In the Maldives, international NGOs, which are largely absent in the country, could work with government agencies and local NGOs in strengthening gender mainstreaming in coastal resource management plans. Adopting an ICM approach would have significant benefits here due to the harmonization between coastal and ocean sectors.
The last overarching avenue for gender mainstreaming involves the recommendations for gender-equitable outcomes provided in the FAO Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries. These should guide any work and inter-institutional engagement in countries such as Bangladesh, Myanmar, Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives and Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka’s ministries should consider these guidelines as specific recommendations for Sri Lankan cases provided by FAO (FAO, 2017).
Although policy frameworks at different scales are necessary and can promote gender equality and protect women’s rights, they are not sufficient to guarantee those rights. The laws need implementation and must be embedded in the existing and ever changing economic, social and political landscape of local communities. Parts 4 and 5 of this report provide a deeper analysis of the material collected through the 12 national gender analyses and highlight a range of insights into women’s positioning and gendered power dynamics at play.
Table 4 Opportunities for gender mainstreaming.
Opportunity 1 Mainstream inclusive and intersectional gender 8 in policies and strategies being developed or create addendum policy and guidance for already adopted policies and strategies. Opportunity 2 Encourage experienced civil society organizations to share good gender integration practices with other local NGOs and governmental agencies (collaboration). Opportunity 3 Increase involvement of and support from government agencies (i.e. Thailand Gender Equality Committee, Philippine Commission on Women) responsible for gender and women. Opportunity 4 Take advantage of decentralized structures in the coastal and marine resources management of some countries. Opportunity 5 Take advantage of ICM and transboundary approaches to coastal and marine resources management (e.g. subregional programmes). Opportunity 6 Capacity building of national and local coastal and fisheries resource management stakeholders. Opportunity 7 Employ FAO Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries.
8. See p. 48 of this Report for further detail. 33 Upcycling: Green Rhinos learn how to transform household plastic waste – like candy and biscuit wrappers – into baskets and sitting mats. © 2016 MFF India.
Part 4. Lived experiences in Asian coastal communities Coastal livelihoods are embedded in a range of socio-cultural domains within which norms, beliefs and perceptions influence and shape the use of resources. Understanding these influences and their intersections with normative, economic and political dynamics and processes is relevant when trying to grasp processes of gendered identity formation and associated behaviours, decision-making capacity and access to opportunities or services. Exploring these embodied experiences ensures consideration for gendered emotional dimensions of using and managing environmental resources and the power relations involved.
However, discussions focused solely on these dimensions may result in a narrow view into how cultural and societal norms, beliefs and perceptions are translated to local and household dynamics and relations. A feminist ecological approach can further nuance and expand the gender analysis to consider multiscale, micro-political and differentiated dimensions at work. Political, economic and environmental processes at national and regional scales have been observed to impact lives in coastal communities in Asia. For example, national and state policies have entrenched gendered divisions of labour and inequality through issuing fishing licenses solely to men in the Krishna District of India, focusing economic growth strategies and opportunities on male-dominated responsibilities and roles in Bangladesh, or being insufficient in terms of legally binding mechanisms that promote gender equality in employment in the Maldives. Other wider geopolitical (i.e. conflicts), environmental (i.e. coastal and marine resource degradation) and economic processes (i.e. industrialization) have also emerged as shaping individual and household experiences, particularly in terms of transforming gender roles, responsibilities and cultural norms.
The micro-political dimension focuses on the smaller scale (i.e. within households and communities) in which politics of power relations play 34 out (Elmhirst, 2015). This refers to the need to understand gender in coastal and fisheries resource management through people’s everyday intimate and embodied practices and everyday spaces, politics and power relations as these relate to wider structures of power (Sundberg, 2017). Several intimate and embodied experiences in terms of the impact of violence, limited access to SRHR information and services, emotional hardship on women’s abilities to participate in productive work and community decision-making and the emotional reactions to disruptions in resources emerged in coastal communities. This highlighted how resource access and use is not only essential for livelihoods and health but also a sense of dignity and belonging.
Through this attentiveness to wider socioeconomic structures, the analysis helps understand norms, beliefs and perceptions and their intersections with relationships of power within the particular historical, geopolitical and socioeconomic contexts of coastal communities. Drawing on the gender analyses conducted for this study, this section provides insights into the findings relevant to the domains identified in the Gender Analysis Toolkit such as gendered roles, responsibilities, time and lived experience and access to and control of resources, and participation and decision-making. Patterns of power (i.e. power dynamics, power relations) are cross-cutting dimensions across domains, contexts and scales of analysis.
Positioning women in coastal and marine communities
A day in a woman’s life: Intersectionality and gendered roles and responsibilities in households
The pattern across the region in terms of gendered roles and responsibilities is the stereotyping of women as physical and economic carers and the expectation of women to remain in domestic and reproductive roles. Tasks within these roles include child care, cleaning, cooking, waste management, care for the elderly and sick, and managing the kin network. Several communities (e.g. in Bangladesh, Cambodia Indonesia and Thailand) clearly showed that women managed finances for the family. In some cases, such as Thailand, men have roles within the household (i.e. caring for the elderly, household decoration, repair or building), although most household work is considered beyond a man’s natural domain of being the main income earner and provider.
A typical day in the life of a woman in Gawatr Bay area in Pakistan provides a good example. A woman’s day is marked by prayer times while the daily routine consists of washing clothes, taking care of children, the elderly and sick members of the family. Women cook, clean, collect water and wood, and do all the chores around the house.
“Each day we wake up around 5 am and make tea. Then after the morning prayers we cook breakfast and feed the children. Then we clean the dishes and wash the clothes. We collect wood, cook lunch and after lunch we rest for a while. In the evening, we start cooking dinner after the evening prayer, and eat dinner around sunset. In the late evening, after dinner we spend time with our family, and smoke our hookahs and then go to sleep” (GA, Gwatar Bay, Pakistan, 2018:19).
Within households, several prominent responsibilities are allocated between women and men in different ways depending on context. In communities such as those in India and Nijhum Dwip Island in Bangladesh, collection of water, food and fuel is the woman’s responsibility. This differs from Indonesian, Sri Lankan and Pakistani communities where these activities are given solely to men or are joint responsibilities. Intersections between gender and ethnicity in productive roles are relevant in Sri Lanka
35 where women belonging to different ethnic groups have different responsibilities for fetching water (Box 1). In Odisha (India), Bengali women are more mobile than Odiya women and “h ave more decision-making capacity in the use of natural resources and the income earned ” yet “ the drudgery of the Bengali women is high in comparison to the Odiya women ” (GA Odisha, 2018:25). This demonstrates how higher levels of economic mobility because of ethnic and gender intersections can contribute to higher workloads among Bengali women.
Box 1: Responsibilities for fetching water in Sri Lanka.
l In Sinhalese communities, women are expected to fetch water independently. l Among Tamils, collecting water is a responsibility shared by men and women. l In Muslim communities, as public exposure is forbidden for women, water collecting is done by men.
At the other end of the spectrum, the Yanadi communities in the Krishna Delta in India are unique as levels of gender equality in terms of sharing these household and productive tasks was observed. This acts as a reminder that, although there may be general trends across the region, context-specific research is imperative to reveal the diversity of women’s experience.
A 24-hour activity profile is often a good way to grasp and engage with what it means to be a woman in a coastal community and better understand gender differences between men’s and women’s activities and responsibilities. Figure 2 is a daily activities profile in Keti Bundar, Pakistan. This illustrates the ‘double burden’ (i.e. housework and productive work) and overall higher workloads for women.
Figure 2 Twenty-four hour activity profile of women (left) and men (right) in Keti Bundar, Pakistan (GA Keti Bundar, 2018). Female Activities over 24 Hours Male Activities over 24 Hours
Wake up and Prayers Wake up, Prayers Breakfast 5:00 am - 6:30 am 4:00 am - 5:00 am Breakfast 7:00 am - 8:00 am
Sleep 11:00 pm - 4:00 am
Rest 11:00 pm - 4:00 am Grazing Animals, Preparing Children or School, Household Chores 9:00 am - 12:00 pm
Fishing/Farming 6:00 am - 5:00 pm Dinner 8:00 pm - 9:00 pm Lunch 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm Dinner and Preparation 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm Tea Stiching and Return Home and Rest 5:00 pm - 5:30 pm Embroidery 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Although these profiles will differ depending on local conditions, communities across the region recognize, accept and normalize the disproportionate work burdens for women. Women in the Krishna Delta, India for example, said that an average working day is over 15 hours. Similarly, women in Indonesia,
“Wake up at around 4 am to prepare breakfast and get the children ready for school or to get themselves ready for work [...] prepare their husband to go to catch fish […] usually sleep around 9-10 pm” (GA, Indonesia, 2018).
36 This study highlights how the interaction between changes in fisheries production with local gendered roles and responsibilities can cause a range of gender-specific impacts. For example, with fishery yields decreasing in Cambodia, there are gender differentiated impacts on time with fishers taking longer and going further to find marine and coastal resources while women, who are mainly responsible for household consumption, spend more of their time finding other livelihood opportunities.
In Odisha (India) national political processes designated national park boundaries which have limited access to forest areas and increased women’s time investment in fulfilling core responsibilities such as collecting firewood. Environmental processes in terms of increased salinity is also extending women’s time investments in the collection of clean drinking water by requiring them to travel longer distances:
“With increased salinity, women have to travel 400 meters to 1 kilometre many times a day to get clean water. Changing climate and changing patterns of use of natural resources is increasing vulnerability and drudgery of the women ” (GA Odisha, 2018:26).
The micro-political dimension of feminist political ecology which draws attention to the scale of everyday, embodied experiences highlights how particular bodies (i.e. women) bear the brunt of compensating for losses in livelihood resources.
The different uses of time between genders influences levels of participation in development programmes and community meetings as women’s availability is seldom considered. This was observed in the Krishna Delta in India and the Maldives where lower attendance rates were seen because community gatherings times clashed with household chores or women not having enough time because of higher workloads. In Cambodia, responsibilities for housework were identified as the biggest constraint to women’s engagement in wetland conservation and climate change adaptation activities. It is, therefore, important to implement programmes with flexible timings and align gatherings with women’s schedules. Although this was not explicitly discussed across the region’s gender analyses, it may be beneficial to have discussions around existing gender roles and redistribution of workloads to avoid burdening women (Jost et al., 2015).
Gendered roles and responsibilities in economic activities – beyond cultural boundaries
Within the fisheries sector, although both genders are involved in the value chain, men are generally more dominant during harvest and fishing stages while women are mostly involved in postharvest stages. Figure 3 shows how processing marine resources is a main responsibility of women.
Figure 3 Overall division of roles and tasks between men and women in the fishery sector.
Preharvest During harvest Postharvest
l Preparing fishing gear l Fishing and l Sorting fish l Making nets harvesting l Cleaning fish l Collecting marine fish l Processing fish l Transporting marine l Selling fish fish l Fish marketing l Repairing nets
Legend: l Women’s roles and tasks l Men’s roles and tasks 37 Similar trends were observed in economic activities related to agriculture where men are more often responsible for preharvest and harvest responsibilities while women dominate in postharvest activities (Figure 4). During harvesting, women perform supporting roles such as weeding.
Figure 4 Different roles and tasks of men and women in the agriculture sector.
Preharvest During harvest Postharvest
l Land preparation l Harvesting l Drying (ploughing and sowing) l Transportation l Storage l Watering l Transplantation l Milling l Management of l Weeding l Selling fertilisers and pesticides
Legend: l Women’s roles and tasks l Men’s roles and tasks
These gendered divisions in labour reinforce economic inequalities (Williams, 2008) and appear to be driven by a range of cultural norms, beliefs and perceptions about men’s and women’s physical or sacred abilities to engage with the ocean and its resources. In the Krishna Delta in India for example, cultural norms around respecting the ocean goddess coupled with perceptions about women’s lack of skills and physical weakness have embedded a belief that women should not participate in fishing. Customs such as rythangam , in which young men become eligible for fishing and fish vending among other privileges, is not applicable to girls. Respondents in Gwatar Bay in Pakistan also reinforce this argument by referring to the traditional inter-generational passing of fishing skills and knowledge to men and young boys, “fishing is a skill passed on to the men by their ancestors, young boys are taught how to fish ” (GA Gwatar Bay, 2018:20).
Similarly, gender roles in agriculture stem from societal perceptions around gendered differences in technical skills and ability to use agricultural machinery. In Thailand men are considered more knowledgeable than women in agriculture, fisheries, livestock, ecotourism (as car and boat drivers, and cooking), and other fishing activities (GA Trat Province, Thailand, 2018). In Cambodia’s rice farming context, it was found that:
“The differences of roles between men and women in the rice production value chain stem from the idea that men work in higher technical skills compared to women, particular in using farm machinery such as hand tractors and combine harvesters. Women tend to work manually in activities such as rice cleaning, drying and selling rice” (GA Cambodia, Toul Tuetueng, 2018:9).
Other perceptions that influence this dynamic were observed in Odisha, India where men are considered stronger and women too weak for particular responsibilities:
“The key gender difference between a man and a woman is men are stronger and women are weak. Women’s palms are so soft, hence most of the tough works are done by men ” (GA Odisha, 2018:19).
In Kep Province in Cambodia, when elections for fishery community are held, mostly men are selected for the top leadership positions because:
38 “Men are seen as more capable and physically stronger, for example men can do heavy work such as making crab cages or carrying heavy items and have more stamina. In addition, men are seen to be flexible with respect to travel. Men can travel both day and night without being afraid of sexual harassment. They can travel by boat to patrol illegal fishing activities, and they can go into the mangrove forest. Women on the other hand, are seen as less capable and having less physical energy compared to men. It is thought they cannot travel by boat because they cannot swim, and they are not flexible in their ability to travel as they are attached to their children and their household chores and also care more than men about safety when they travel at night” (GA, Cambodia, Kep, 2018:6).
Figures 3 and 4 demonstrate the general trends in gendered separation of labour but there is a range of context-specific differences. In some communities in Pakistan, the entire fishing value chain, except in minor tasks such as collecting crabs or clams, is dominated by men due to perceptions that fishing is a man’s job. In contract, in Bangladesh women fish and collect marine resources, although not to the same extent as men in terms of time and effort. This joint responsibility during harvest is also relevant to agriculture in Indonesia where planting and harvesting activities are undertaken by both men and women.
In Myanmar, the local gender analysis revealed that gender differentiated roles are based on characteristics of fishing and there is a strong stereotypic differentiation of labour:
“Tasks regarded as low status and of less economic value, for example, processing tasks such as cleaning, cutting and sun drying, are for women. Men are involved in activities that require intensive physical labour and fetch high economic returns. They usually go fishing in the Andaman sea for weeks and market the catch in areas bordering Thailand. However, we noticed that women in this area are keen to learn new skills and willing to go fishing alongside their male counterparts. There have been cases of some women working in the area as traders and retailers ” (GA Myanmar, Pu Lone Tone Tone, 2018:11)
In Kep Province in Cambodia, both women and men would refer to married women as “housewives”. This language relegates women to household work and responsibilities and communicates a perception of women’s work as unpaid and therefore less productive work.
“This led to underestimations of the importance of and actual amount of work women do. If the husband is the breadwinner, it means that men are the ones responsible for earning money to support the whole family. If women earn money as well, they are seen as only supporting (secondary) income earners, working just to help their husband” (GA Cambodia, Kep, 2018:5).
In terms of economic activities, there are also distinctions between occupations perceived to be appropriate for men and women. Women in Cambodia for example, are more likely to be involved in garment industries compared to men, who are more involved in construction and agricultural production. In Myanmar, some women interviewed were involved in alternative economic activities such as food and flower selling or home-based tailoring.
In communities in Pakistan and Bangladesh, although there are views that women should participate in broader economic activities, cultural and religious norms constrain women to economic roles within the household. In Gwatar Bay communities in Pakistan for example, findings showed:
“In Panwan…it was thought that women should work to earn an income but only within their homes by doing sewing and embroidery. Similarly in Dir, although the view is that women should participate in economic activities, this should be restricted to the household, since it is not culturally acceptable for a woman to work outside the home” (GA Gwatar Bay, 2018:24). 39 In the Keti Bundar area in Pakistan, ‘acceptable’ women’s employment has expanded to include agricultural work but this is still perceived as restricted to the domestic sphere:
“Even when women are involved in productive work such as embroidery, mat weaving and working in agriculture, their roles are still confined within the household and domestic sphere” (GA Keti Bundar, 2018:22).
These restrictions can prompt emotional responses. Young women in the Maldives expressed a sense of frustration with the gendering of occupations in tourism. An emphasis on the sharp division of labour and their embedding in cultural norms can lead to valuable, non-processing and non-marketing inputs by women being overlooked (Lentisco & Lee, 2015) and to a lack of understanding of other power dynamics at play which favour men. The multiscale implications on how individual experiences are shaped and the links between the ‘intimate’ and national political economy are emerging and show how policies and practices that coalesce around coastal and marine resource management can deepen gendered experience and inequalities.
For example, the Department of Fisheries in Krishna District in India perpetuates the gendered division in labour by issuing marine fishing licenses to only men. In contrast, in the Yanadi communities in this district, both men and women are given licenses for marine fishing and both are much more equally involved in fishing. The case of Bangladesh highlights the relevance of understanding policy’s responsibility in creating unequal power relations at household and community level. The Coastal Zone Policy, through its lack of consideration for gendered differences, has focused growth and livelihood development on male-dominated opportunities without specifying appropriate strategies for women, thereby perpetuating unequal gender roles. The national Gender Equality Law 2016 in the Maldives is missing any legally binding clause to promote women’s participation in the tourism industry. As a result, women’s participation in the country’s leading economy is very limited.
This has been addressed in some countries. The Krishna District in India for example, recognized the need to apply policy to the full range of gendered activities along the fishery value chain in the provisions of the Directive Principles of State Policy under Constitution Article 42. These and other cases show how gender roles, responsibilities and relations are forged through geographically contingent, power-laden processes which challenge the essentialist views of gendered power relations that overemphasise particular patterns (Elmhirst, 2015).
Sri Lanka’s context further highlights divergence from these general trends as intersections between gender, ethnicity and class have created differences within the same area. As illustrated in Box 3, Tamil and Sinhalese women commonly engage in different fishing activities. Gleaning for clams and mussels has traditionally been done by low-income Muslim women, especially in Trincomalee. The social stigma and marginalization attached to gleaning in lagoons and marshy areas suggests class divisions at play in wider Muslim society. Those Muslim women who feel they have achieved a higher socioeconomic status prefer to stop this kind of activity (Lokuge and Hilhorst, 2017). Intersectionalities at play here are important given that many studies generalize and fail to account for the diversity of gendered experiences within coastal communities and the fisheries sector (Porter, 2012; Weeratunge, Sze & Snyder, 2010). The gender analysis conducted in Mairoot in Trat Province in Thailand highlights power differences among women having higher income and who are more engaged in financial decisions at both household and village level and those who have lower income and feel less confident in voicing their views and needs. Differences in economic status translate to more or less decision-making power and emotional confidence and are related to informal work in fish processing.
40 “In Mairoot, women can have their income from processing and some can save money and then they feel they have power to support their family. When they talk about this they seem to be happy and proud” (GA Trat, Thailand, 2018).
Box 2: Women’s diverse roles and responsibilities in the fisheries sector of Sri Lanka by ethnicity.
l Sinhalese women are least restricted in terms of fishing involvement with some even going fishing with men and coming to shore to assist them. l Tamil women are less restricted in terms of fisheries with responsibilities around clearing fish from the nets and mending nets. l Muslim women do not generally participate in any fishing activities. Lower-income Muslim women glean for clams and mussels.
In Nijhum Dwip in Bangladesh, “g ender norms that make women stay in the household in the daytime makes them move at night in groups to catch fish, ensuring their safety as much as possible ” (GA Nijhum Dwip, 2018:10). This demonstrates how women can find avenues for income generation despite constraints. Rather than being the vulnerable segment of the community, they are potential change agents (GA Nijhum Dwip, 2018:10).
Regardless of participation in productive activities, men and women in most studied communities undervalued women’s involvement. As men are expected to perform the masculine ‘breadwinner’ roles, income-earning activity is not associated with women. The invisibility of women’s work was observed in districts in Sri Lanka where a ‘hidden fact’ was that 30% of income generation can be attributed to women, despite most of the community claiming men are the only income generators (GA study in Sri Lanka).
“The active role that women play in home-based economic activities tends to be socially and statistically invisible ” (GA, Sri Lanka, 2018:24).
Men in some communities in Odisha, India claim that “ women do not do anything ” (GA Odisha, 2018:25). In India, efforts of government departments to work with local farmers only included men. Despite being involved in agricultural processes, women are not recognized as farmers. This indicates how multiscale processes in the political sphere can perpetuate gendered roles and lived experience while highlighting how invisibility can marginalize women in implementing sectoral policies (Bennett, 2005; Harper, Zeller, Hauzer, Pauly & Sumaila, 2013). In the same national context, the intersection of ethnicity and class with gender and its impact on women and men in fisheries results in very different situations in the Yanadi communities where husband and wife “ share the work together” (GA, Khrishna Delta, India 2018; Box 3).
Box 3: Intersectionality and roles and responsibilities in the fisheries sector for Yanadi women and men (Khrishna Delta, India).
Neti, a 33-year-old Yanadi woman in Ullipalem village, goes fishing in the mangrove forest with her husband. They have a 13-year-old daughter and 9-year-old son. They do not have any land of their own to cultivate. She spends 6 to 7 days in the mangrove forest with her husband catching crabs, fish and prawns. They hire a boat and pay 3,000 to 4,000 INR as rent. Neti says that if they had boat of their own, they need not stay in the mangrove forest for a week, leaving their children at home on their own. While in the forest, they face extreme weather conditions while staying on the banks of the canals and get physical injuries from the mangrove bushes. They take all their supplies and tools and live in the back waters and on the banks of the canals. If they catch enough, they come home and sell it in the market and use the money for their daily needs (GA, Khrishna Delta 2018:36).
41 In several contexts (e.g. Odiya community in Odisha, India and Nijhum Dwip Island in Bangladesh, Muslim women in the Maldives), divergence from these norms and involvement of women in economic activities can be interpreted as a sign of the family’s poor economic status and hamper its social status within the community. In the study on Nijhum Dwip Island, “i t is shameful for the family that the woman is earning and running the household, not the man ” (GA Nijhum Dwip, 2018:13). Discrimination against women’s participation in productive activities and the acceptance of norms and values associated with manhood and masculinity have sometimes produced unique situations on this island as women are fishing at night to ensure they are not seen earning money.
The analysis of case studies in this regional synthesis corroborate knowledge about women in Asia as constituting an important part of the workforce in the fisheries sector. They play a larger role than men in aquaculture and a lesser role in capture fisheries. They play a primary role in fish processing and marketing (mainly in Southeast Asia), which generates income for family maintenance. The analysis also shows how men’s and women’s practices at different policy scales can legitimize socio-cultural norms that justify men’s dominant position and hence the subordination of women and the invisibility of their work.
42 A woman drying holy mangrove leaves - Probolinggo, Indonesia. © MFF Indonesia.
Part 5. Shifting norms, shifting power: Access and control of livelihoods in changing environments
Across the region, women’s access is generally limited in terms of physical, financial, human, social, and natural capital (i.e. land, credit, decision-making bodies, agricultural inputs, technology, extension and training services). This can be the result of socially produced and perpetuated social norms and patterns of gender discrimination. In some countries, women may be lawfully deprived of ownership rights, and thus hindered from running fish-farming businesses or they may not be allowed to access finance and insurance services. In some areas, women are not aware of the laws enforcing women’s rights to ownership. Research in India found that:
“Most men and women, including local government officials, are unaware of progressive legal frameworks like the Hindu Succession Amendment Act 2005, giving equal rights to daughters as sons on parental land and property” (GA, Odisha, India, 2018).
Focus group discussions also revealed an overall lack of understanding of gender equality in relation to rights over land and water resulting in “ most women do not realise they are entitled to an equal share of the land and even men do not understand the importance of women’s land rights ” (Ibid.). Lack of information and a knowledge-enabling environment results in women’s rights over resources being overlooked in policy considerations. The Odisha setting is again a case in point:
“The policy on water rights in Odisha hasn’t been formulated and the discussion is around whether to accept water rights as an individual right or consider it as a community right. […] However, women’s rights over water resources are not in the policy discourse” (GA, Odisha, India, 2018).
In Cambodia, statutory laws give women and men equal rights to land and property, yet women still do not have equal entitlements to land. 43 According to a 2014 socioeconomic survey, men own 88% of agricultural land (National Institute of Statistics, 2015). Similarly, in Indonesia, although the Civil Code stipulates that men and women have equal ownership rights, this equality is rarely observed at local scales. This lack of access to capital and information regarding existing laws protecting their rights limits women’s capacity to engage and use or better their skills.
In some communities in India and Nijhum Dwip in Bangladesh, local researchers involved in this study stressed the impact of patriarchal social and cultural norms on women’s mobility and hence the overall confinement of their activities to the household and the private sphere. Through the feminist political ecology lens, other axes of power were revealed that highlight variances in the experiences of different groups of women. Ethnic belonging, for instance, interacts with gender in Odisha and affects economic mobility and access to labour markets and income (Elmhirst, 2015). Box 4 provides examples.
Box 4: Patterns of mobility and access to work and income in Odisha, India.
l In the Odiya community, women are highly restricted in terms of mobility within agriculture, markets or government departments. Women’s work in agriculture is a social taboo and is seen as a sign of the poor economic status of the family. Work is restricted to household chores and livestock management or kitchen gardens and vegetable cultivation. l In the Bengali community, women have fewer restrictions around participating in work and have better access to markets. For example, women here do not face any restrictions in working in agriculture or fishing in ponds. Bengali women also have higher mobility in the markets than Odiya women for purchasing household and other goods. Bengali women have more decision-making capacity over the use of natural resources as well as the income earned from selling agricultural produce.
Components of the cultural belief system and norms constrain access to education. There is an undervaluing of women’s education due to norms that, in Indonesia for example, expect women to stay home, raise the children and do domestic work as opposed to economic opportunities that require more technical skills. In Indonesia, “there are still perceptions among communities that girls do not need to study because only women do domestic work and raise children” (GA Indonesia, 2018:9). Although there are policies to address this, (e.g. the Child Marriage Restraint Act in Bangladesh), another cultural practice that hinders women’s access to education is child marriage. This practice has been observed in several communities in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka and has prevented girls from attending high school. Gendered roles perpetuate low levels of education as girls have been observed to miss school due to household work in Krishna, India.
Another finding of the regional synthesis is the non-static and dynamic nature of cultural norms, beliefs and perceptions and gendered roles, responsibilities and time. A range of wider political, economic and environmental processes continuously shape these gendered aspects within households and the community. For example, nation-wide violent conflict and relocation in Sri Lanka have resulted in thousands of widows and women left on their own. Due to dependence on male kin for access to resources, this leads to gender-specific vulnerabilities (Rao, 2006). However, this also shaped the current realities and positions of women in a rather unexpected way.
Paradoxically, these vulnerabilities have shifted power relations by forcing women to question traditional gender norms and domestic roles and become the primary income earners in their households. Further movement from the private to public realm increased engagement politically, economically and socially. In Odisha, India and Keti Bundar, Pakistan, it became evident that household poverty as a result of wider economic, environmental and political processes has superseded cultural norms and beliefs around gendered divisions of labour. As one woman remarked, “ We are so poor, we have to work together in the
44 fields ” (GA Keti Bundar, 2018:20). The changes observed included the feminization of agricultural labour and women working with men outside the household.
In Cambodia, declining marine fish stocks and rapid growth of industry in the local economy have brought about a shift in women’s employment from fisheries to working in garment factories. The changing roles have been pervasive with 70% of the interviewed households having female members working in garment factories. Similar trends were observed in Indonesia where industrial modernization led to a drop in employment in the fisheries sector among women. During women’s absence due to factory work in Cambodia, some men are taking responsibility for housework. Gender therefore can be re-inscribed through responses to environmental changes and highlights how gender should be seen as a process in which subjectivities shift and are produced through time (Elmhirst, 2015).
The non-static nature of cultural norms, beliefs and perceptions and the influence of multiscale processes can perpetuate and intensify divisions in roles and responsibilities. In the Maldives for example, women’s household work and reproductive responsibilities have been intensifying due to changes in societal structures and increased religious conservatism and radicalization.
These findings reflect broader gender and environment issues that emphasize movement away from understanding gendered power relations as fixed assumptions to being dynamic within specific contexts (Elmhirst & Resurreccion, 2012). They also reflect how wider economic, environmental and political processes create struggles over meanings and identities and how gender norms and roles can be negotiated and socially produced during these struggles (Elmhirst, 2015). Women can, therefore, actively change the way they position themselves in the household and society (Tucker & Boonabaana, 2012). These circumstances highlight entry points and opportunities for transforming norms, perceptions and beliefs that perpetuate gender inequality. The social issues that can result from diverging from norms of men as breadwinners are important considerations as it is important to avoid backlash and unintended consequences. For example, in the Maldives it was found that men supporting women in household chores is considered shameful and could cause a woman to be punished.
Resource access and use: Beyond livelihoods to emotions
As communities depend heavily on natural resources, wider environmental processes that manifest as coastal degradation and depleted fishery stocks can result in severe consequences to livelihoods. Disruptions interact with responsibilities to create gender-specific difficulties. In Krishna, India, for example, the depletion of coastal and marine resources resulted in specific gendered experiences and impacts on women’s livelihoods and health (Box 5). Gender-specific impacts of the interaction between
Box 5: Gender-specific impacts from coastal and marine resource degradation in Krishna, India.
Climate change affects the livelihoods of women in coastal regions. Previously, women used to go to fish- landings to buy fish when the catch was abundant. Now, due to low catches, some fish-landings have shut down and women depend on fish from harbours across the state. There is lot of competition in the harbours among different stakeholders like fisher women, local vendors, traders and exporters. This leads to higher fish prices and local fisher women are the losers in this process. Due to their low investment capacity, these women are not able to buy fish and they need to travel long distances using private transport due to lack of public transport. Space to dry fish along the coast has been shrinking due to coastal erosion and natural disasters cause soil erosion and reduced beach area and development projects destroy coastal resources. Women selling fish often face health issues, mainly gynaecological problems and kidney related diseases and they suffer from headaches and dehydration, especially those who sell fish on the streets.
45 environmental processes and women’s responsibilities emerged in Odisha, India, where changes in national park boundaries and salinity levels increased women’s workloads. These examples demonstrate how environmental processes interact with gender responsibilities to change gender access to and control over resources.
The pressures and financial issues associated with these environmental changes and the expectations of women to find alternative livelihood opportunities can cause feelings of helplessness and depression, especially as the income is marginal and women often cannot meet family needs (Box 6).
Box 6: Emotional reactions as a result of disruptions to resources.
Ganga’s story: Krishna District, India Ganga feels physically weak, depressed and hopeless for the future and worried about her eldest daughter and the baby yet to be born. She sees little hope in terms of livelihood options. Her husband is a mason and also works in a welding shop but he spends his earnings on alcohol and other vices.
Kola Lakshmi’s story: Krishna District, India Kala feels depressed and helpless at times due to work pressures and financial issues. Although she works hard in her pond, does some wage work and seasonally migrates for work, the income is marginal and does not meet all the family needs. She finds that the coastal resources are declining and competition among groups is increasing and there are no alternate livelihood opportunities for men or women in the area. She needs her husband’s permission to spend the money she earns through her wage work. Her husband beats her occasionally.
Emotions related to the loss of resources and livelihoods are inter-subjective and produced through relationships between people, particularly in terms of the expectations that men and larger society place on women to maintain household consumption (Sultana, 2011). As seen in the Krishna District, India (GA Krishna, 2018:38), “ the challenges of impoverishment and insufficient means for survival coupled with patriarchy are intolerable ”. These findings demonstrate a focus that goes beyond the analysis of gender roles and static norms to include embodied experiences (Elmhirst, 2015). What the analysis shows is how resource access and use is essential for livelihoods and health and the sense of dignity and belonging which is central to achieving equity in relationships and an enabling environment for women and other marginalized groups.
Participation and decision-making
While women’s contributions to rural economies is undeniable and their participation in agricultural production processes clearly visible, their equitable participation in rural organizations remains negligible across the region. They rarely hold leadership or decision-making positions which affects their agency and bargaining power. The 30% leadership presence considered to be the ‘critical mass’ at which women legislators can begin to influence decision-making to benefit women at the national or local levels of government is still to be achieved across countries in the region. Beyond the legislative realm, this section identifies three specific areas that emerged through case studies as relevant to the understanding of the limited participation of women in the public sphere and hence the processes of decision-making. These are: education, violence against women, gendered roles and social norms.
The overall low levels of education among women and the associated lack of awareness of specific subjects was identified as a pervasive obstacle to equal participation in community gatherings in the Province of Trat in Thailand and Krishna, India. The gender analysis conducted in Mairoot (Thailand) revealed how decision-making in community planning development is done mainly by men because of
46 social beliefs around men’s leadership abilities and women’s low education levels resulting in limited confidence. While the Thai case revealed how women may be more involved in community projects and training, their participation does not translate into increased decision-making power.
In the Krishna District of India, low levels of skill and education can result in negative perceptions of self and cause women to doubt their communication and leadership skills. This leads to low levels of participation and perpetuates gender inequality. In Cambodia, men also believe that women are weak, unhealthy, busy with housework, or that natural resource control is beyond their capabilities. This too perpetuates lower participation rates among women and biased power dynamics that result in gender inequality. The importance of government efforts in these areas can be seen in Bangladesh where the Coastal Zone Policy aims to close the gender gap through a focus on women’s education, training, employment, and broadening coping capacity.
In the Maldives, according to the 2014 census data analysis, women cite family duties as reason for not working. Women’s unemployment rate is higher than that of men (5.9% and 4.8% respectively) and higher in the Atolls (GA, Maldives, 2018). During focus group discussions for the gender analysis in the Maldives, women emphasized that housework keeps them from participating in community meetings. A woman teacher said:
“Women have double the workload due to our expected reproductive role and household chores. We hardly have any time to take part in any community development activities although we wish to do so ”.
When asked whether women were called to meetings about infrastructure development, coastal protection, fishing or environmental topics, the women in the focus group stressed how they were only called for meetings about household waste management. While those findings draw attention to the influence of cultural systems and norms on gendered roles and responsibilities, they also show how targeted community practices perpetuate those systems to further render invisible women’s contributions and remove their participation and agency from the public domain.
Domestic violence is prevalent in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka where patriarchal norms limit access to resources and result in poor livelihood opportunities. Violence against women stems from gendered responsibilities in which there are high expectations of women to perform household chores or stay within household boundaries and further entrench gender roles and inequalities while severely affecting women’s self-esteem and ability to work (Williams, 2008). The influence of these norms on household politics was demonstrated through Durga’s experience in Krishna, India. Although she knows there are laws against domestic violence, she feels helpless to support her sister who faces it. This highlights the disconnect between scales and how normative practices contribute to perpetuating gender inequalities and women’s
Box 7: The impact of violence on livelihood options and ability to work.
Panna’s story: Nijhum Dwip Island, Bangladesh Panna cannot work hard because she is regularly tortured by her husband, especially since a year ago, when he poured a pan of burning coal on her head. The matter went to local arbitration. The jury scolded her husband for his behaviour and warned him not to behave like this again. Panna is living her life, avoiding heavy work. She cannot take it anymore and does not feel fit at all.”
Ganga’s story: Krishna District, India She sees no hope for alternative livelihood options. Her mother wants to initiate a dialogue with her husband and mother-in-law, but Ganga does not want to go back to her husband as she is not willing to tolerate the violence.”
47 marginalization within communities. The stories of Panna, in Bangladesh and Ganga are told in Box 7 9 to show how violence can affect women’s livelihood options and their ability to participate in productive work and community life. This link between livelihoods and violence is further illustrated by Ganga’s experience in Krishna, where the suggested family solution to a lack of livelihood options was to return to a situation of violence.
The importance of addressing violence against women is reflected in the coastal and marine resources policy landscape with the Coastal Zone Policy in Bangladesh. The policy intends to implement institutional measures such as awareness and motivation campaigns. In several contexts, however, local researchers involved in conducting the gender analyses indicated that the ability to address violence may be hindered as “ local government people show patriarchal bias in delivering their services, decision- making in management, and conducting arbitrations ” (GA Bangladesh, 2018:3). This implies that women’s voices, whether as village dwellers or as government representatives, are ignored in local discussions and at local government decision-making scales. This constrains their ability to enhance their leadership skills and participate in decision-making.
As communities depend heavily on natural resources, wider environmental processes that manifest in the form of coastal degradation and depleted fishery stocks can have severe consequences to livelihoods and health. Women’s unequal participation in decision-making processes further compounds inequalities and often prevents women and other marginalized groups from fully contributing to climate related planning. In these circumstances, women and men are pushed to find alternative coping strategies which may subvert existing social norms and reshape gendered spaces for participation. In Keti Bundar in Pakistan for example, the increasing importance of mangroves for protection against high tides, waves and rough weather have resulted in women becoming more involved in new activities. As one man noted, “Mangroves protect us, so we allow the women and children to participate in mangrove plantation activities in the villages ” (GA Keti Bundar, 2018:13).
9. Names used to explore individual stories are fictitious to respect confidentiality and protect identities.
48 Women from the fishing community share their experience in candle-making – Keti Bundar, Pakistan. © MFF Pakistan.
Part 6. Conclusions and recommendations
There has been a collective call internationally for gender inclusiveness, mainstreaming and sensitivity across environment and development areas. This Regional Synthesis Report, which is the final output of Phase Two of the Regional Gender Study on Coastal and Fisheries Resource Management in South and Southeast Asia, has been organised around three objectives: i) an analytical overview of the multiscale institutional and policy landscape and opportunities for mainstreaming gender in fisheries and coastal resource management, ii) gender analysis in the identified domains (i.e. lived experiences of gender roles and responsibilities, access to and control of resources, participation and decision-making, cultural norms, beliefs and perceptions), and iii) opportunities for promoting gender equality and gender responsiveness and recommendations for mainstreaming gender in coastal and fisheries resource management in South and Southeast Asia.
Summary of findings and recommendations
Finding 1: Although we have made some progress, countries in the region are largely falling short of adequate gender mainstreaming in national policies. While countries and the region have a long way to go, the analysis revealed several regional opportunities for gender mainstreaming in Part 3 of this report.
49 Opportunities for implementing and strengthening gender mainstreaming
Opportunity 1 Mainstream inclusive and intersectional gender in policies and strategies being developed or create addendum policy and guidance notes. Opportunity 2 Encourage experienced civil society organizations to share gender integration practices with local NGOs and governmental agencies (collaboration). Opportunity 3 Increase involvement and support from government mechanisms (i.e. Thailand Gender Equality Committee, Philippine Commission on Women). Opportunity 4 Take advantage of decentralized structures for coastal and fisheries management. Opportunity 5 Take advantage of integrated coastal management and transboundary approaches to coastal and fisheries resources management. Opportunity 6 Build capacity of national and local coastal and fisheries resource management stakeholders. Opportunity 7 Employ FAO Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries.
Case studies analyzed for this regional synthesis offer the following findings:
Finding 2: Women have diverse roles and responsibilities, yet their contributions are often undervalued. There are few women involved in deep sea or industrial fishing and few in managerial or leadership positions. Women are more involved in artisanal aquaculture, onshore fishing, fishing and seafood preparation and processing. This is largely due to societal norms that assign greater value to men’s voices and keep women away from ‘masculine activities’. The intersectional gender analysis urges those working in this area to refrain from essentialist and one-dimensional and universalized constructions of women and their condition of disadvantage (Bilge, 2010; Staunæs, 2003; Collins, 2000; Crenshaw, 1989). Guided by a feminist political ecology framework, the analysis emphasizes the need to look at gender in relation to other axes of power and everyday practices to reveal how groups of women are structurally marginalized and how, depending on context, ethnicity, caste, class and location can interact with gender to produce social differences and define knowledge about, access to, and control over natural resources.
Overarching recommendation: Increase intersectional gender awareness among communities and project implementers. Patriarchal gender and social norms that confine women to the domestic sphere and reproductive work can result in women not being invited to meetings relating to natural resource management or elected to leadership positions. Domestic violence is also prevalent and this further entrenches gender roles and inequalities and severely affects women’s self-esteem and ability to participate in decision-making.
Finding 3: Women’s participation in decision-making remains low at all levels. This is true at higher levels, where women’s representation remains low within more techno-physical policy spheres, such as marine and coastal resource management.
Overarching recommendation: Improve women’s agency in decision-making and beyond. While the study recognizes that norms and roles often disadvantage women in coastal and marine resource contexts, it also acknowledges that norms are the product of women and men’s doings and can be perpetuated through the lack of questioning practices related to them 10 . Along with these societal norms, the study found that:
10. See for instance women’s practice of night fishing on Nijhum Dwip Island. 50 Finding 4: Old and poorly implemented laws and policies, economic processes and lack of information deepen socially constructed gender inequalities which remain pervasive. National legislation or sector-specific norms and the lack of knowledge around gender equality and or regulations for protecting women greatly contribute to perpetuating gender inequalities in coastal communities and the fisheries sector.
Overarching recommendation: Provide critical gender analysis training and support for government institutions, local organizations and project implementers.
The findings reflect how wider economic, environmental and political processes create struggles over meanings and identities, and how gender norms and roles can be negotiated and socially produced during those struggles (Elmhirst, 2015). Economic changes, geopolitical and climate related events, and technical developments and labour mobility can produce new enabling environments where room for transformation of gender norms and initiating change is created.
Finding 5: Social norms and gender roles are not fixed. Gender discriminatory norms can change in enabling environments. These circumstances highlight entry points and opportunities for transforming gender discriminatory norms, perceptions and beliefs within the wider context of societal, local and global economic and political processes which produce inequalities.
Overarching recommendation: Work towards women’s economic empowerment and beyond in contingent enabling environments.
Key considerations around backlashes and unintended consequences, around recognition of women having to shoulder a double burden, around the need to ensure reciprocity and redistribution of reproductive work, and the physical violence women may face are also paramount. 11 Hence,
Finding 6: Women and young girls’ self-esteem and ability to take part in community activities are undermined when experiencing physical violence. Violence directed at them was frequently mentioned by women as contributing to issues such as lack of confidence, withdrawal from the public economic, consultative and decisional arenas, and retreat into the domestic sphere of family and work.
Overarching recommendation: Prevent violence against women as part of gender mainstreaming efforts in coastal and fisheries resource management.
Tables 5 lists the overarching recommendations with specific recommendations. Table 6 lists specific recommendations for the integration of critical gender analysis in project implementation. Both tables include a third column where further details for implementation are outlined. This final column of ‘relevant details’ can act as a preliminary checklist that can be adapted and improved according to specific contexts and projects. Programme implementers and decision-making actors can refer to these for more targeted initiatives to further strengthen gender mainstreaming in coastal and fisheries resource management. Appendix 4 includes more country specific recommendations that emerged from some of the national gender analyses which build on the regional recommendations.
11. See Maldives example where it was found that men supporting women in household chores was perceived as shameful and could result in the woman being penalised. 51 Table 5 Overarching regional recommendations Regional overarching Specific recommendations Relevant details recommendation
1. Increase gender Inform and sensitize communities on l Through men and women awareness raising awareness among gender issues and ensure that both men sessions, facilitate collective understanding of communities and project and women can contribute and learning about the benefits and values of implementers. constructively and in a gender-sensitive women’s work and promoting women’s further participation in coastal and fisheries resource manner to decision-making processes management. at the community and organizational level. l Awareness campaigns targeted at men that highlight the importance of joint decision-making and sharing tasks and responsibilities. l Involve and collaborate with institutions and organizations. l Gender awareness materials in simple and easy to understand local languages should be developed and disseminated with interactive sessions in schools and community gatherings.
2. Provide gender Enable project and local government l Increase gender sensitization training for relevant analysis training and stakeholders to systematically institutions and ensure that it is contextualized support for local mainstream gender in development for the specific project needs and area. organizations, planning and develop a common l Shift from a general gender training to how to government institutions approach to tackling gender inequality. mainstream gender concerns in a coastal and and project marine resources project. implementers Ensure inclusive and intersectional practices that reflect the complexity of Involve and collaborate with relevant institutions and local socioeconomic realities. organizations.
3. Work towards l Increase opportunities for structural l Ensure women’s work, both reproductive and women’s economic transformation. fisheries work in pre- and postharvest stages is always recognized and valued. empowerment and l Recognise and promote women’s beyond. achievements beyond the realm of l Ensure implemented activities do not increase economic productivity. time burdens and hardship of women. l Complement gender mainstreaming l Introduce and create innovative livelihood through improving the overall status opportunities to enable diversification. of women. l Increase access to and provision of technical support, equipment and training in crafts and marketing. l Basic education, favourable credit policies and liberal financial support to motivate women’s entrepreneurialism in fisheries activities.
4. Improve women’s Ensure women’s ability to identify social l Participatory understanding of underlying agency beyond decision- potential for change and to contest inequalities. making power. underlying gender and wider social l Participatory identification and strategizing to inequalities. Enhance social capital and address societal discriminatory norms. create space for a collective voice. l Training in leadership and enterprise ownership.
5. Combat violence l Ensure young girls’ self-esteem and l Include measures for combatting violence in a against women. create enabling environments for planned and integrated manner. empowerment. l Increase awareness in local communities and in l Complement gender mainstreaming schools as educated children can change through enhancing participation of household dynamics and prevent violence. women in all aspects of life and within projects. l Child-to-parent message delivery mechanism connected with community police can be used for monitoring violence. l Monitoring complemented with child-to-child support network.
52 Table 6 Recommendations for integrating critical gender analysis in project implementation Regional overarching Specific recommendations Relevant details recommendation
1. Training in critical Enable project stakeholders to l Increase gender sensitization training for relevant gender analysis for local systematically mainstream gender in institutions and ensure that it is contextualized organizations, development planning and develop a for the specific project needs and area. institutions and project common approach to tackling gender l Shift from general gender training to how to implementers. inequality. mainstream gender concerns in a coastal and marine resources project. l Involve and collaborate with relevant institutions and organizations. l Advocate for the collection of gender- disaggregated data in all sectors at city (and island when appropriate) levels for informing policy and projects. 2. Mainstream gender l Provide a roadmap for implementing l Conduct critical gender analysis followed by throughout all project a gender-sensitive project with needs assessment to analyse gender relations stages. ‘gender just’ project outcomes. and identify issues and multiscale barriers to gender inequality. Use results to inform the l Ensure integration of women’s and design and implementation of programs and men’s understandings, needs and action plans. aspirations into project design and objectives. l Use gender-sensitive monitoring and evaluation with gender-specific indicators and targets to track progress in gender mainstreaming. l Ensure participation of women’s organizations and gender experts throughout project processes to ensure better mainstreaming. 3. Employ substantive l Build a sense of ownership of the l Develop programs using a participatory participatory approaches project and outcomes among approach that involve regular consultations with throughout all project community members. relevant stakeholders and processes of stages. collective learning space for women’s collective l Ensure common understanding of consciousness raising. issues and decision-making on procedures for project delivery. l Community awareness of underlying causes of discrimination and inequality. l Ensure collective engagement in mainstreaming gender. l Participatory decision-making on self-identified gendered needs pathways for action. l Participatory understanding of the double burden of women and identification of principles and strategies for reciprocity and redistribution. 4. Increase women’s l Shift from tokenistic participation to l Ensure women are involved in frequent participation. active engagement. dialogues before deciding and moving to actions at all levels. l Promote leadership. l Ensure participation of young women (often l Ensure the creation of safe spaces educated) who can make vital contributions to providing forums for discussing coastal and fisheries resource management. women and gender issues. l Ensure participation of elderly women for indigenous knowledge on coastal and fisheries resource management. l Facilitate effective engagement and interaction with men within and beyond group activities. l Provide guidance and support for women in coastal management leadership roles in ways that effectively consider and use their different capabilities and insights. l Use appropriate modes and timing for meetings and consultations to increase women’s participation. 5. Shift towards longer- l Ensure sustainability, meaningful l Lengthen project duration and enhance term projects. participation and ownership through sustainability of projects through encouraging progressive results. ownership of initiatives by local people. l Draw attention to women’s l Partners and participants plan for sustainable empowerment and engagement as changes. an issue that requires long-term societal change embedded in local l Ensure enough time to build rapport with women people and institutions. and involve them as stakeholders. l Work with donors to prepare them to refocus on long-term investments (i.e. education of women and girls, in civil society organizations, local women’s leadership). 53 Concluding reflection
This report was developed within a multiscale feminist political ecology framework and adopted an intersectional approach to gender. It examined aspects of the multiscale structural and contingent conditions and mechanisms through which women, in all their diversity, access and are denied power to access, and use and control of resources in coastal settings. It has disclosed how barriers to gender equality and women’s confidence-building and self- consciousness and empowerment are rooted in the neo-liberal growth-oriented paradigms of development which thrive on women’s and other poor workers’ marginalization in the value chain. Their frequent exclusion from the market space and relegation to minor and non-direct economic value-adding roles in fisheries and coastal resource management shows how women are perceived as and forced to act as micro actors , whose engagement in scales higher than the family-farm and the household is socially and politically unacceptable. As a result, men engage with wider economic and trade actors which further perpetuates the image of women as housewives rather than chief economic earners. Such dynamics are further reinforced and grounded through the reproduction of socially constructed norms that mandate the reclusion of women to the private sphere of the household and limit their abilities to participate and access the productive domain, unless given access by a male kin. Efforts around gender-equal redistribution of tasks within the reproductive sphere are also lacking as a result.
The context-specific analysis brought to the fore instances which clearly refute static views of gender roles and societal norms in coastal communities. Paradoxically, although these experiences of struggle that may cause increasing poverty, lack of livelihoods, violent conflicts and family separations, focus group discussions revealed their potential as societal epiphanies in which community members question their own practices and engage in new, more equitable ones. These struggles can become opportunities for women to change the way they position themselves in the household and society (Tucker & Boonabaana, 2012). Although it is important to avoid romanticizing women’s agency, those changes can provide spaces for latitude and relative strength to grasp and question underlying gender and broader social inequalities and work towards finding ways to address them. These circumstances highlight entry points and opportunities for transforming gender discriminatory norms, perceptions and beliefs within the wider context of societal, local and global economic and political processes which produce inequalities of different kinds.
A significant challenge is, therefore, the articulation and translation of gender equality at both levels of policy and implementation. There is no quick fix for empowering women. Mainstreaming gender in policy and institutional practice
54 is both a technical and political process which requires shifts in organizational culture, goals and strategies and approaches to understanding and mainstreaming gender equality principles. Longer-term programming that considers participatory strategies, space for women’s collective action, building awareness about underlying causes of discrimination and inequality and how these can be addressed in coastal and fisheries resource management is required.
National gender analyses undertaken for this study revealed an often-incomplete consideration of ground-level practices and the need for more focus on local gender analysis, capacity building and resources. Institutional capacity for gender-responsive project planning (i.e. gender awareness, critical gender analysis and mainstreaming skills) is a major factor in enabling sustainable natural resource management. Hence, this publication together with the other outputs of the MFF-SEAFDEC-SEI study project can be of assistance in bettering both skills and a more holistic critical knowledge of gender analysis in coastal and fisheries resource management. Foremost, an opportunity should be seen and acted upon within local action where inclusive and intersectional practices that reflect the complexity of local socioeconomic realities and resilience building processes should be embraced to guide an integrated approach to coastal and fisheries resource management.
55 References
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63 Appendices
Appendix I Study site overview
Country Province, state, Type of village or town administrative region, district
Bangladesh Teknaf, Cox’s Bazar Hnila Union Parishad Jailaparu, Hnila Majher Dang, Shah, Porir Dwip Shymnagar, Satkhira Dumuria, Gabura Koikhali, Shymnagar Jelekhali, Munshiganj Union New Mundapara, South Srifolkathi North Atulia Mathurapur, Munshiganj Union Burigoalini Nijhum Dwip Dubai er Khal West Islampur Munshigram Agomoni Cambodia Prey Nob District, Preah Sihanouk Province Toul Toetueng Mouy Toul Toetueng Pir Toul Toetueng Bei Chumpu Khmau Kep Province Sangkat Okrosar Sangkat Prey Thom India Krishna District, Andhra Pradesh Basavananipalem, Koduru Palakayatippa, Koduru Ullipalem, Koduru Campbellpeta, Machilipatnam Gilakaladindi, Machilipatnam Sorlagondi, Nagayalanka Naali, Nagayalanka Rajnagar Block of Kendrapara district, Odisha Bhitarkanika Estuarine community Bengali and Odiya as part of the Rajnagar coastal community Maldives Addu City or Seenu Atoll Hithadhoo Myanmar Kawthaung Province Pu Lone Tone Tone Village Sri Lanka Mullaithevu (Northern Province) of Kokkilai Lagoon Region Kokkilai West Puliamunai Mukathuvaram Trincomalee (Eastern Province) of Kokkilai Lagoon Region Thennamaravady Pulmoddai Indonesia Probolinggo District and Situbondo District in Probolinggo District: East Java Province Karangayar Curah Dringu Situbondo District: Gelung Tanjungpecinan Banyuglugur Village Pakistan Gwatar Bay in the Gwatar District Dir Panawan Bandari Keti Bundar and Kharo Chan in Thatta district, Sindh Villages in creeks: Bhoori Village Tipan Village Villages in Kharo Chan: Ahmed Samo Haji Ali Bux Mugar Villages in Keti Bundar: Haji Moosa Village Keti Bundar City Thailand Trat Province Mairoot Subdistrict
64 Appendix II Overview of data collection and samples
Bangladesh Teknaf, Cox’s Bazar Key informant interviews Housewives, fisherfolk, farmers Shymnagar, Satkhira (poultry), labourer, bag maker, shopkeeper In-depth interviews Director of the MFF Shushilan Office Focus group discussions l Separate men and women groups from a range of occupations, age groups and educational backgrounds l Mixed group discussions Nijhum Dwip in Key informant interviews Noakhai District Designated people from relevant institutions including government, NGOs and social institutions Personal interviews l Community people from diverse backgrounds by age, sex, occupation and skills l Personal interviews involved respondents involved in focus groups Focus group discussions l Community people from diverse backgrounds by age, sex, occupation and skills l Women-only groups (2), men-only group (1) and mixed group (1) l Also involved some young and elderly participants Cambodia In-depth interviews l MFF project beneficiaries who received training and financial support from the projects (20) l Non-MFF project beneficiaries who received training but no financial support (20) l Non-project members who did not receive training or support (10) Key informant interviews l Commune leader (1) l Community council (1) l Ministry of Women’s Affair (MOWA) (1) l Ministry of Environment (MOE) (10) l NGO (FACT) (1) l Teachers (2) l Villagers (2) Focus group discussions Men and women from the villages Observation N/A India Krishna District In-depth interviews Women in the villages from a range of backgrounds Key informant interviews Stakeholders including: l Officials from department of forest/fisheries l Scientists from research institutes l Local NGO functionaries l School headmaster Focus group discussions Men-only, women-only and mixed-groups Odisha Personal interviews l Teachers (4) l Beneficiaries of projects (9) l Programme implementation team and organization head l Block development officer, forest officer of Bhitarkanika National Forest, revenue officer
65 Focus group discussions l Children (2) l Mixed adult groups that included beneficiaries from the projects (5) Maldives Stakeholder consultations l Addu City Council l Addu City Hithadhoo Police l Women’s Development Committee l Climate Change Adaptation Project livelihood development component trainer l Social development activists Focus group discussions Groups of women and men (between 6- 8 members in each) comprised of: l women (employed, unemployed, divorced, widows, married and single) l fisherfolk l farmers l NGOs l religious leaders l youth l Addu Women’s Development Initiative members Myanmar Individual Interview Local community Focus group discussions Key informants Key Informant Interviews Sri Lanka Questionnaire survey Households Key informant interviews Important individuals in the villages Focus group discussions Only-men adult group (1), only-women adult group (1), only-men youth group (2) and only-women youth group (2). The youth groups were split for Tamils and Muslims. Non-participatory observation N/A Indonesia Interviews Local community Focus group discussions Observation N/A Pakistan Keti Bundar Focus group discussions Only-men groups (between 3-7 respondents) and only-women groups (between 8-12 respondents) (12 ) Key informant interviews Officials of Sindh Fisheries Department and Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum Gwatar Bay Focus group discussions l Only-men groups (between 9-15 respondents) who were mostly fishermen and some, although less, employed in farming and manual labour l Only-women groups (between 7-13 respondents) (6 in total) Key informant interviews l Stakeholders l CBOs/NGOs working on women’s issues l Companies Roundtable discussion Fisheries Department officials in Gwatar using interview format Bay, Jiwani and Gwadar (10 participants)
66 Appendix III Policies from each country
Theme Country Existing policy, law, regulation
Water management Bangladesh l 1999 National Water Policy l 2004 National Water Management Plan Cambodia l Sub-Decree on Water Pollution Control (1999) l Law on Water Resources Management (2007) Forestry Bangladesh l National Forestry Policy and Master Plan l National Forestry Policy Cambodia Forestry Law 2002 India Forest Act 1927 Malaysia National Forestry Act 1984 Pakistan Forest Act 1927 Philippines Forestry Code 1975 Sri Lanka Forest Ordinance 1907 Vietnam Law on Forest Protection 2004 Wildlife/ biodiversity Bangladesh l Bangladesh Wildlife Act 1973 l National Biodiversity Strategic Action Plan India l Indian Wildlife Protection Act 1972 l Biological Diversity Act 2002 Malaysia l Wildlife Conservation Act (1984) l National Biodiversity Policy 1998 Myanmar Protection of Wildlife and Protected Areas Law (1994) Sri Lanka Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance 1936 Vietnam Biodiversity Law 2008 Environmental impact Bangladesh National Environmental Policy 1992 assessments Cambodia l Sub-Decree on Environmental Impact Assessment Process 1999 l Law on Environmental Protection and Natural Resource Management 1996 Myanmar l EIA Guidelines (2018) l Environment Protection Rules 2014 Philippines Environmental Impact Statement System 1978 Vietnam Law on Environmental Protection 2005 Maldives Environment Protection and Preservation Act 1993 Marine and coastal zones Cambodia Royal Decree on the Protection of Natural Areas 1993 and protected areas India l Coastal Regulation Zone Notification (1991, 2011) management l Territorial waters, Continental Shelf, Exclusive Economic Zone and Other Maritime Zones Act (1976) Malaysia l National Parks Act (1980) l Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency Act (2004) Maldives Act on Maritime Boundaries of the Maldives 1996 Philippines National Integrated Protected Areas System Act 1992 Sri Lanka l Special Area Management planning process l Coastal Zone Management Plan 2004 l Coast Conservation Act 1981 Philippines Coastal and Marine Ecosystem Management Program 2017-2028 Mining Cambodia Law on Mineral Resource Management and Exploitation 2001 Maldives Act on Mining Coral and Sand from Inhabited Islands 1978
67 Theme Country Existing policy, law, regulation
Myanmar Mines Law 2015 Tourism Malaysia National Ecotourism Plan Maldives l Tourism Act 1999 l Fourth Tourism Master Plan Myanmar l Tourism Master Plan (2013-2020) l Responsible Tourism Policy (2012) l Ecotourism Policy and Management Strategy (2015-2020) l Directives for Coastal Beach Areas 2004 Fisheries Bangladesh l National Fisheries Policy 1998 Cambodia l Law on Fisheries 2007 l Strategic Planning Framework for Fisheries (2010-2019) Indonesia Fisheries Law 2004 Malaysia Fisheries Act 1985 Maldives Fisheries Act 1987 Myanmar Marine Fisheries Law 1990 Philippines Fisheries Code 1998 Sri Lanka Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Act 1996 Environmental conservation Bangladesh l Environment Conservation Rules 1997 and protection (including l National Environmental Policy 1992 pollution related policies) Malaysia l Environmental Quality Act 1974 l Merchant Shipping (Oil Pollution) Act 1994 India l Environmental Protection Act 1986 l National Environment Policy Pakistan l Pakistan Environmental Protection Act 1997 l National Environmental Policy 2005 Vietnam Law on Environmental Protection (2005) Sri Lanka l National Environmental Act 1980 l Marine Pollution Prevention Act 1981 Thailand l National Environmental Quality Act 1992 l Promotion of Marine and Coastal Resource Management Act 2015 Myanmar Environment Protection Rules 2014 Maldives Environment Protection and Preservation Act 1993 Cambodia Law on Environmental Protection and Natural Resource Management 1996 Integrated coastal zone Bangladesh Coastal Zone Policy 2005 management India National Environment Policy 2006 and ICZM pilot projects Vietnam National Strategy for Integrated Coastal Resource Management 2020-2030 Indonesia Coastal Zone Management Law 2007
68 Appendix IV Country recommendations from national gender analyses
Regional overarching Study site, country Specific recommendations at a national, local scale recommendation
Provide gender training Maldives Continuous training and sensitization for implementing agencies on and support for local moderate understanding of Islam. organizations, government institutions Cambodia Improve MFF governance and management with gender issues and and project reduce conflict. implementers Maldives The Ministry of Environment and Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture Work towards women’s should establish consultative processes with fisherfolks and farmers. economic Krishna, India Amendment of the Marine Fishing Policy 2017 is required with empowerment AND extensive stakeholder consultation. beyond Odisha, India l Provide skill building programs for women and girls on handicraft products to create alternative livelihoods
l Engage women in ecotourism activities
Krishna, India l Establish Fisheries Polytechnic Institutes to train women for specialized functions and provide selective/needs-based training for entrepreneurship skills.
l Fisheries Polytechnic Institutes can also help in providing infrastructural and technical support ‘Matsya marts’ that support fisher women to store and sell produce.
l Install solar dryers to enable higher return prices in produce and reduce loss for women.
l Replicate and support innovative livelihood diversification projects similar to the one provided by the department of Science and Technology.
l Frame a policy for leasing smaller water bodies to fisherwomen so aquaculture activities can be an option and promote female entrepreneurs.
l Plan separate and accessible funding schemes for women.
l Promoting crab culture as an activity among women.
Indonesia l Increase training in the processing of fish, agricultural products and marine biota to increase revenues.
l Increase access to adaptive rural area technology (i.e. training in organic farming and composting).
Bangladesh l Create joint enterprises and encourage female leadership in using common pool resources for income.
Cambodia l Establish a marine fish processing community that involves women.
l Establish an ecotourism community and create ecotourism sites with women.
l Focusing on women, provide technical skills in making handicraft from local resources.
Sri Lanka l Development organizations targeting women should raise awareness on provisions of laws and policies on gender equality and women empowerment at village levels (leaflets and notices could be displayed in public areas).
69 Regional overarching Study site, country Specific recommendations at a national, local scale recommendation
Improve women’s Pakistan l Form women’s groups and community-based organisations in agency beyond coordination with the National Rural Support Programme (NRSP) in decision-making Gwatar Bay and with the WWF, Fisheries Department, Government power of Sindh and the Pakistan Fisher Folk Forum in Keti Bundar. This was to provide a forum for women to discuss gender issues.
Gwatar Bay, Pakistan l Increase female basic literacy in collaboration with local government and NGOs.
l Women doctors and mid-w recruitment in collaboration with local government and NGOs to provide SRHR services to women.
Bangladesh l Addressing women’s primary concerns with SRHR related to the water crisis.
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